Chiamaka Ajeamo
Facebook, in collaboration with SheLeadsAfrica to intensify entrepreneurial training and empower more females in entrepreneurship in Nigeria. It has said it would include 10 universities for the 2019 training.
Speaking at the “SheMeansBusiness” dinner in Lagos, recently, Facebook Policy Programmes Head in Africa, Sherry Dzinoreva, declared that the training would be intensified through its ”SheMeansBusiness” programme for females that was launched in Nigeria in 2018 which has trained over 4,000 female entrepreneurs in the country since inception in 2018.
Dzinoreva stated that the idea behind the programme is to create an entrepreneurship platform for women exclusively where women can come together to learn how to use digital platforms to grow their businessess as well as have a number of other types of engagements.
“We are training thousands of women this year. Not very different from what we did last year, the only difference this year is that we are going into 10 different universities across the country to train entrepreneurs.
“This year, we are also bringing financial literacy into the programme. it is an opportunity to empower and support female business owners and aspiring female business owners. There is something about creating spaces for women because we know that when women are doing well, their families, businesses, industries, communities and the economy is ultimately doing well,” she said.
Dzinoreva further noted that there was no specific criteria to engage on the programme, but just the entrepreneurial spirit of women who were either aspiring or existing entrepreneurs.
Also speaking, the Director, Public Policy Africa at Facebook, Ebele Okobi, said that there was the need for women to be in charge of their destinies, as it would affect the nation adding that Facebook was interested in ensuring that women used its platforms; Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to create economic independence.
The Co-Founder, She Leads Africa, Afua Osei, said that this was the company’s third year of working with Facebook on a programme to teach, train and support women entrepreneurs.
“This year, we are doing more and we will be separating trainings from entrepreneurship, we would be having trainings on business strategy, tools and mindset trainings as well.
“We know that young people are entrepreneurial, they are excited, but they don’t really have that much money. So we are going to teach them how to start getting into businesses with a little cash. We are going to bring the training and the expertise to them, so that they can have that experience on their campuses,” Osei said.