GENDER MAINSTREAMING LOAN ACCESSIBILITY- SMEDAN Versus SHE VENTURES

There’s still a business development and financial literacy education gap in orientation of start ups and scaling sustainable businesses in Nigeria. While these loans can be a way to support women in businesses, there are factors that still limit Economic Justice such as CAC registration, Tax, Human Capacity, Resources, Security, NAFDAC, Advertising Agency Fees, and then Leadership. Nigeria has more to do, to show accountability and commitment to give women, and push benefit realisation and economic advantage women led businesses bring. The social norms and expectations of women in Nigeria and the economics of Care, are areas that require addressing and long term interventions. 

The Power in Em-POWER-ment- The Nexus Between Language, Meaning and Application

EmPOWERment has embedded meaning in varying contexts. The word in itself can mean the positioning for a positive and progressive possibility. It can mean enabling either a person, economy or environment, to achieve objectives that seemed unattainable. Empowerment is being used as a language and terminology for the re-positioning towards an ideal, somewhat better and more profitable outcome. While this language and meaning can be nuanced, there is no denying the fact that empowerment and empowering is binary focussed.

Gender and Unemployment- A National Issue

Analysing unemployment and underemployment figures require a more nuanced approach to determine the causative factors that has generated a multi-dimensional poverty status. Nigeria requires the work from her population to meet National and Global living conditions. This remains a National Issue.

Gendered Biased Lending Practices limit access to funding for Female-Led and Owned Businesses in Nigeria

Out-of-date, gender-biased lending practices often mean female entrepreneurs are more likely to get higher interest rates, smaller loan amounts and increased penalties for mistakes.

Tackling Gendered Economic Equity in Nigeria.

ddressing these disparities is crucial for fostering a more inclusive and sustainable business environment. Environment of business scalability is also expensive to run with bills, taxes, resources that at are competent with capacity, infrastructure and security requires evaluation when reviewing loans and funding for women led businesses. 

FUNDING WOMEN-LED BUSINESSES- A SURVEY VALIDATION MEETING

Nigeria has a growing – working population that are youth centred, the unemployment and underemployment figures according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), increasing year on year, also shows that women are significantly impacted more than men. The gender implications for women in security, poverty, health, leadership and political representation, is on the rise. While a solution is to create an environment that nurtures everyone inclusively, the economic interventions are still limiting and its impact affects women’s economic power.

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?

Is “Talk” Cheap? – How Women Are Constantly Excluded Out Of Leadership Conversations

Media, one of the main tools of education and orientation, contribute to the subliminal exclusion of women in Global and National conversations as well as reinforcing the social stereotypes and norms by inactive gender sensitive reporting and mainstreaming.