Women Entrepreneurs Seek Essential Resources For Growth

LAGOS – It is on record that in Nigeria, female entrepreneurs constitute 43 per cent of entrepreneurs in the country.

Also, those in agriculture which are smallholder farmers and processors account for about 70 to 80 percent of the sector’s la­bour force.

They play a very important role in the nation’s economy.

Despite their huge contributions, these people seem not to have the necessary sup­port needed to boost their productivity and contribute more to the nation’s economy the way they would have done.

Daily Independent in separate interviews with women in various fields of business called for more attention to their plight to enable them to boost their productivity.

They seek access to finance, an enabling environment, and training among others.

Aolat Idowu-Agbelekale, CEO of Arcom Treasures, said women’s contribution to GDP is awesome, that they require special attention and support in terms of equal op­portunity to finance, patronage, favourable decision and policy as it affects their lines of operation and businesses.

She noted that women should be treated based on the value and positive contribu­tions they make to society, not on the ground of gender biases or subjugation.

On what government need to do to sup­port female entrepreneurs, said that govern­ment should provide the needed enabling and secure environment.

She said Nigerian female entrepreneurs are highly intelligent and creative, and that if given the necessary support, enabling environment, and well appreciated by the government, they can do better.

“We need grants, zero interest rates on loans, and equipment financing. We also need Farmland allocation at a reduced price, farm inputs support such as seedlings, fer­tilizers among others.”

Idowu-Agbelekale who is a stakeholder in the coconut value chain said that there is need to build more processing centres that will allow for equipment sharing and reduce the multiplication of efforts and wastage.

“Most often; one waste product in coconut is another raw material for another coconut­preneur, for example, an activated charcoal processor uses the waste shell of a coconut oil producer. If we are in a cluster, it makes it easier for such processors to get his/ her raw materials at affordable prices and easily.

“The shell disposer, too, will always get paid for such materials, unlike when you operate individually; you have to pay to get rid of those wastes,” she added.

Adeola Balogun, founder and Chief Oper­ations Officer at LimLim Foods Production Company Limited, said that there must and should be a means to verify the business and once that has been established progressive facilities should be given to female-led busi­nesses and their model can be such that they gradually build cash collateral which can be invested in bonds and turn used as collateral by female-led and owned businesses.

She said for years women have been rele­gated to being housewives and thus a large number not being economically empowered.

“But in recent times given the economic realities, women’s economic growths are now a fulcrum of any home. Given our in­fluence with the children, women must be given all the encouragement needed to grow their businesses as this will also positively impact the children as they grow and de­velop.

“Honestly as a female in the agro-process­ing space that is helping to reduce post-har­vest losses and ensuring food security, access to low-cost, single-digit funding is all that is required,” she added.

Modupe Zainab Adelaja, CEO of Zynto­max Ventures Limited, a waste recycling company in her view stated that the gov­ernment should establish dedicated funds that provide grants and other financial as­sistance to female entrepreneurs.

“This will help to reduce the financial barriers that many women face when start­ing and growing a business.

She said that the government should or­ganize training programmes, mentorship opportunities, and workshops that teach female entrepreneurs the skills they need to run a successful business.

“This would help to bridge the gap be­tween the existing skill set and the require­ments for starting and running a business.

Adelaja also stressed the need to address the gender gap in entrepreneurship, which can stem from a range of social and cultural factors.

“The government should offer tax in­centives to female entrepreneurs, such as tax breaks for new businesses or reduced tax rates for female-owned companies. This would help to offset some of the costs asso­ciated with starting and growing a business and incentivize more women to become en­trepreneurs,” she said.

Chi Tola, CEO, Chitola Farms Limited said, “We have emphasised and are still hammering the emphasis that women en­trepreneurs deserve special attention, but not much has been done to attain a remark­able experience or evidence of something being done.

“Female entrepreneurs are mostly the hardest hit when it comes to norms and factors if you know what I mean in context.

“So, it will be in the government’s inter­est to revisit the ease of doing business for especially women and also ensure targeted support and interventions.

On what the government needs to do, she said, the government needs to start by giving women entrepreneurs’ adequate training, funding and or grants, export and monitor­ing/evaluation support.

She said there is a need to set up policies that are gender friendly and accommodating and enforce the same.

Speaking further on the basic issues that need attention to help maximise the efforts and contributions of smallholder women farmers, she said that they require integra­tion and reorientation and more training and support, stating that a lot of them still believe in conventional farming and this is because there is no adequate training and enlightenment on improved farming meth­ods.

She said women farmers required access to improved services and facilities because they contribute immensely to agricultural and agro-processing growth in this country.

Tola noted that rural women are still very important in the value chain and that until we can improve their methods, output may not improve.

She said the government needs to invest more in creating agro hubs, which should be accessible and quite affordable.

“The farmers should be engaged in the discussion, their needs should not be provid­ed to them on assumptions. They should be engaged to find out what they need, where they need it and how they want it.

“By engaging these women, a lot will be extracted to help in proper women farm­ers-friendly policies to be developed and implemented. The truth is, if a group of women for example, in a community pre­fers their processing hub at the back of the community market, trust me, when it is put there, it will be of immense benefit and will be used optimally.

“You can’t possibly set a processing hub in a community where the women can’t eas­ily transport their produce by head, bike or even small trucks because most of these smallholder farmers are located in com­munities where there is not a good access route.”

Mary Afan, National President of the Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) said that the govern­ment has the sole responsibility of changing the narrative because they hold the resourc­es of the citizens in their custody.

“Most of the time they sit down to plan on our behalf and that is why they don’t under­stand what we want. We cannot do anything in terms of achieving food security unless we increase the budgetary allocation.

“In as much as the government does not prioritize this sector, it becomes difficult for them to allocate resources. There is no com­mitment to show that they are committing XYZ amount of money to boost agriculture which is the mainstay of the economy, even whatever they are allocating how much of this goes to women in terms of capacity building, in terms of processing machines among others.

Also, Abimbola Francis, General Sec­retary of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State chapter called on the government at the various levels to make available processing hubs for women farmers in their various communities so that these farmers will bring their various produce to the hub for processing.

She also noted that women farmers need machinery and farm implements to make their farming business easy and less te­dious, adding that for the nation to be food secure women farmers have a role to play which they have been playing and need to be supported with an irrigation system.

“With the climate change issue now all over the country, no nation should be de­pending on rain-fed agriculture, what we should invest more in is irrigation, so that we can produce food all year round to feed the teeming population.”