Women in Nigeria have been urged to play a more active and frontal role to stimulate the growth of businesses and overall development.
In the same vein, the womenfolk have been advised to pursue leadership roles in their communities and the corporate world so as to rise to the top echelon of decision making in order to champion policies and programmes that would ensure sustainable development.
According to the President/Chief Executive Officer of Global Fund for Women (GFW), Ms. Latanya Mapp Frett, who gave the advice as the Special Guest Speaker at the 4th edition of the Women FinancingWomen (WFW) Group meeting, hosted by First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and SME.NG (Nigeria’s SME Impact Investment Platform) in Lagos recently , the absence of women in key leadership positions has limited the ability and capacity of women-owned businesses, including Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), to secure the relevant support to ensure their success.
She explained that, “the inability of women to reach the very top of leadership positions is a limitation to reach our goals. These include long term opportunities to influence the attainment of international sustainability targets.
The WFM quarterly meeting, which was held virtually and recorded 30 registered attendees, provided a platform for women entrepreneurs to come together and share experiences on how the novel COVID-19(coronavirus) pandemic has affected businesses and proffer solutions to the various challenges posed by the pandemic. The WFW Group, conceptualised by SME.NG in 2019, is an assemblage of women-led funds, investors and financial institutions with diverse portfolios that focus on assisting women to secure finance for their businesses in Nigeria. On the other hand, SME.NG is an impact investment platform that invests in Nigerian Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to realise measurable environmental, social and financial returns.
that would impact positively on the well-being of women and their endeavours, especially in the area of business and other socio-economic activities”.