Financing Women Owned MSMEs- Financial Investors Need To Be More Inclusive

Female entrepreneurs in Nigeria contribute to 50% of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). McKinsey Global Institute implies that this can go up to 19% in 2025 (up to 90 billion Dollars) if the systems are inclusive and equitable towards women in micro, medium small enterprises (MSMEs). But how can this happen when only 10% of commercial loans go towards women’s businesses and Nigerian women own 40% of businesses?

Are Male Chefs Richer than Female Chefs? – Power Dynamics in  Societal Expectations 

Adejoke Bakare got her Michelin Starred recognition for culinary skills at her restaurant – Chishuru. The first person to get to this level with 6 Michelin Stars was Eugénie Brazier- a woman. Media coverage was more for Alain Ducasse (a man) than Eugnénie Brazier.  Just as Rags Martel reported, Adejoke is the first black woman[…]

MYTHS ABOUT WOMEN’S ECONOMIC ROLES

Here are some myths about women’s economic roles; 1. THE MYTH: INVESTING IN WOMEN DOESN’T PAY. The truth: eliminating gender inequalities will increase global GDP. According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute analysis, if women play the same role in labor markets as men, the global yearly GDP may increase by $28 trillion, or 26%,[…]

CAN YOUNG WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LEADERSHIP BE A NORM?

FACTS ABOUT YOUNG WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LEADERSHIP 1. Global percentage of young women participation in politics is 22.5% 2. African participation of young women in leadership is 23.4% 3. Nigeria’s participation of young women in politics is 6.7% 4. The world gender gap is 63.9% 5. Some causes of the gender gap in female participation[…]

Is There Economic Injustice?- HEIR Women Hub with Support From African Women’s Development Fund, Launches Project to Survey Funding Intersections for SMEs for Young Women in FCT.

According to a World Bank 2019 report, women contribute 37% of the Global GDP despite representing almost half of the world’s population. Gender inequalities can be called out as a major factor in this. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals will remain a shadow if young women still encounter gender disparities. If Goal 5 of the[…]

The ED’s Desk- Visualise Your 2024.

Welcome to 2024. I do hope you are looking forward to a spectacular year. My team and I are thrilled to begin this year with addition to our team and more project portfolios. 2023 was kind and we expect an overflow in 2024. One resonating action in rounding off the previous year was conducting a[…]

Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being” the theme for Day of the Girl, 2023, resonates with me very strongly as one who has championed and advocated for leadership and decision-making roles for young women and girls.

In trying to unpack this theme, I reflected on the power dynamics and relations in order to try to re-think a realistic and sustainable possibility of reimagining girls as future leaders. Some institutions of power, discipline, and orientation across platforms have settled on projecting a discourse and the normalization of who a leader is (or[…]

CAPACITY

CAPACITY BUILDING FOR WOMEN. Capacity building is the improvement in an individual’s or organization’s facility “to produce, perform, or deploy. Wikipedia) United Nations defines cCapacity building is the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes, and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world. The[…]

The Future of Work- 5 evolving skills required for the workplace.

CHANGE! It is a constant phenomenon, inevitable and progressive in nature and can elude you or leave you behind. Experts have studied change and it’s impact on many areas and find that it is ideal and wise to keep oneself aware of the changing world. You may remember when the smart phone wasn’t this smart[…]