N1 Billion Fund Launched for Nigerian Women-led Businesses

• Bank of Industry and MTN Foundation entered into a MoU to establish a N1 billion Matching Fund
• The fund is expected to enhance access to finance and capacity building for women micro enterprises in Nigeria

MTN Foundation and the Bank of Industry have joined together for an agreement to establish a N1 Billion Matching Fund to help improve both financial access and capacity building for women who own micro businesses within Nigeria.

This initiative will be introduced as part of the Y’ellopreneur 3.0 initiative and is intended as a pilot Programme to assist women business owners who have no access to formal credit due to inability to provide either collateral or sufficient documentation.

In Lagos during the signing ceremony, Oluspo Olusi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bank of Industry spoke about the project being a targeted response to women who run viable businesses but do not have formal channels through which they can obtain financing at an affordable rate.

He expressed that because women contribute greatly to maintaining the lifeline of micro companies and communities by running their own viable businesses; they face barriers to obtaining adequate and affordable financing as a result of the traditional method of providing loans.

According to Oluspo, the partnership will provide a pilot Programme that allows both organisations to research and develop a financing system that meets the needs of female entrepreneurs with the most significant needs.

In addition, the Programme will provide support for capacity building and business development by providing about 1,000 female entrepreneurs with training in record keeping, management of growth and competitiveness.

He further stated that the Programme places a strong emphasis on transparency, sustainability and the ability to measure results.

The Executive Director of the MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, commented that this partnership builds upon prior pilot initiatives that have allowed each organisation to refine its methods of providing assistance to female-owned businesses.

This new phase will allow for quicker delivery of measurable results, as the foundation plans to assist 30,000 female-owned businesses with capacity building by the year 2030; thus far they have provided assistance to nearly 6,000 female-owned businesses.

In addition, Odunayo stated that the partnership intends to assist in increasing the number of women-owned businesses that survive, improving access to financing for at least 10,000 female-owned businesses and attracting additional partners to help fund this initiative.

Odunayo also indicated that the Programme would combine training, mentoring and financing and be a catalyst for establishing broader public–private partnerships to support enterprise development and inclusive economic growth in Nigeria.