Thresholds of women empowerment and financial inclusion

“As the foremost bilateral chamber of commerce in Nigeria, we pride ourselves and understand that supporting women empowerment is paramount to the growth and development of the nation and it’s in view of this that we put together this meeting to discuss the ways we can ensure in-depth financial inclusion to foster empowerment for women entrepreneurship, social enterprise, corporate and political leadership to bring about socio-economic development in an encompassing perspective.”

The above was part of the opening remarks by Otunba Toyin Akomolafe, President’s Nigerian – American Chamber of Commerce, NACC, at the  December 2019 Breakfast Meeting with a theme  Women Empowerment And Financial Inclusion In The Nigerian Corporate And Social Enterprise. The meeting held in Lagos.

Instructively, issues around women financial empowerment have, over time, arrested the interest of government and lending institutions. Statistics indicate that over 60% of the Nigerian adult population is now financially included, however, the financially excluded proportion of the adult population still remains large

In the light of this, Development Bank of Nigeria,  a financial organisation that was created by the Nigerian Government in partnership with several international bodies to provide financial support for Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, submitted that the bank is well positioned to meets and offer al that is required to finance small and medium enterprise.

Bonaventure Okhaimo, the Chief Operating Officer and Prof. Joseph Nnanna, Assistant Chief Economist, who both represented Mr Tony Okpanachi, Chief Executive Officer, Development Bank of Nigeria, emphasized the strategic importance of the bank including graphic details of its continuous supports to business growth.  They pointed out that one of the financial aims of the bank is financial inclusion for women, including providing long term financing and technical assistance for SMEs.  “We have increased access to financing and we provide up to 10 years moratorium,” they stated.

The bank, with shareholding from  International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), European Investment Bank, EIB  at the moment, has  20 percent of loan   disbursed to women;  20 percent to youths; 1 percent to start ups and 5 percent to disadvantaged region. In addition to the Guest Speaker, the meeting had an all-female panel session with women who have not only set the pace but are also trailblazers in their field of endeavour.

Ngover Ihyembe-Nwankwo, Chairperson, Executive Council, WIMBIZ;  Violet Abdulkadir, CEO, Time-Tell Nig Ltd;  Temitope Iluyemi, Director, Global Government Relations – Africa, Procter & Gamble;  Victoria Madedor, Head, Business Development (Agribusiness & FMCG), BOI Investment and Trust Company Ltd and Ibilola Amao, Principal Consultant, Lonadek Incorporated as the Moderator.

They all jointly explained their commitment to alleviating specific financing constraints that hamper the growth of domestic production and commerce through various corporate and financial supports to fill identified enterprise financing gaps in the MSME segment. Development Bank of Nigeria and Procter and Gamble Nigeria sponsored the meeting which incidentally served as the last Breakfast Meeting for the year 2019