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AfDB, West African Development Bank To Empower Women Entrepreneurs With Financing

by Women Times on

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) has approved a line of credit of €70 million and an equity investment of $24 million, to be granted to the West African Development Bank.

The line of credit will support businesses in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, particularly in job-creating sectors such as agribusiness, renewable energy, health and information and telecommunication, which were drastically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, the African Development Bank will assist the West African Development Bank, through funding from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative to set up a technical assistance program to mainstream gender aspects in its project review process and to promote women’s entrepreneurship. The project should help to create or consolidate at least 5,900 jobs (including 2,000 to women).

The facility is strongly aligned with three of the Bank High 5 strategic priorities, namely Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa and Improve the quality of life of Africans.

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Opportunities

AIF, EIB Announce Africa’s First Women-Focused Private Equity Fund

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The management of Alitheia IDF (AIF), Africa’s first women-led and women-focused private equity fund, has announced the final close of the $100 million fund with European Investment Bank (EIB) joining as the closing investor with $24.6 million. With this final close, Alitheia IDF becomes the largest gender-lens private equity fund by value in Africa.

Led by principal partners Polo Leteka and Tokunboh Ishmael, Alitheia IDF invests in growth-stage companies across six African countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Zambia. The fund has a mandate to plug the over $42 billion investment gap between male and female entrepreneurs as a means of catalysing the economic power of African women as producers, distributors, and consumers. In 2021, the fund began implementing this mandate by leading investment rounds in five women-led businesses across essential sectors including agribusiness, education, manufacturing, housing, technology, and logistics. The investee companies are Jetstream Africa (Ghana), ReelFruit Ltd (Nigeria), SKLD (formerly SchoolKits, Nigeria), AV Light Steel (South Africa) and Chika’s Food (Nigeria).

“Globally, women have tremendous purchasing power as consumers and controllers of household economics. In the same vein, women entrepreneurs have a significant presence in Africa’s SME sector with African women making up 58% of the continent’s self-employed population. However, despite this economic power and presence, African women are underserved as consumers and producers. This has had huge impact on economic growth as the potential of more than half of the continent’s population remain untapped due to structural and systemic issues. We are proactively working towards filling this gap with a clear mandate to support women-led businesses across the continent while raising awareness for gender-smart investment as a path towards inclusive economic growth,” said Principal Partner Tokunboh Ishmael in Nigeria.

African women have remained underserved by the financial sector even as the historical investment gap between men and women continues to widen. Estimates show that African women receive less than 5% of all investment on the continent even though over 40% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa are women-led. Reports by McKinsey point out that closing the investment gap will lead to 26% gross domestic product (GDP) growth ($28 trillion) by 2025. By applying a gender-smart lens to investment, Alitheia IDF is setting the pace and providing a framework for gender-inclusive investments with the goal of enabling economic growth for African countries and, critically, African women.

Polo Leteka, Principal Partner in South Africa, explained that it is her hope that Alitheia IDF’s leading example will inspire other investors on the continent to invest in women, noting that women have an important role to play in unlocking the economic potential of Africa. She further stated that “the historic inability to appropriately capture the economic potential of African women has affected Africa’s development. Alitheia IDF is on a mission to fill this gap by using a gender smart approach and financial capital to empower women as consumers and producers.”

EIB Vice-President Thomas ÖSTROS (https://bit.ly/323Arrq) said: “Women-owned businesses still struggle to raise funding, although they have proven their performance. I am very pleased to support a true ‘by-women for women’ 2X Flagship fund that invests in companies creating job opportunities while enhancing diversity in the sub-Saharan Africa’s economy. The EIB’s investment in Alitheia IDF is part of our SheInvest (https://bit.ly/3DQlB4U) initiative seeking to mobilise €2 billion of investment to boost gender equality and female economic empowerment across the African continent. I truly believe that gender equality makes societies stronger.”

Alitheia IDF is supported by investors across four continents: the African Development Bank, Bank of Industry Nigeria, FinDev Canada, Dutch Good Growth Fund and the European Investment Bank. In 2019, the fund announced its first close at $75 million with the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, stating at the time that Alitheia IDF had fulfilled its commitment to raise funds for female-led businesses. “Promise made, promise kept!” he declared.

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Opportunities

The Lighthouse Network holds SheBlooms for the Working Girl

by Women Times on

The Lighthouse Network, one of the leading female networking organisations in Nigeria has announced SheBlooms, a networking event specifically focused on the Working Girl.

SheBlooms is a programme targeted towards career women between the ages of 22 and 55, who work for or own corporate organizations.

The event, which is designed to drive career awareness and conscious growth in the Working Girl, is set to include coaching sessions with various speakers including foremost life coach Lanre Olusola (The Catalyst), all of whom will be having conversations centred around the 360 degrees lifestyle of the Working Girl.

Supported by Baileys Delight, the premium liqueur with a strong female appeal, SheBlooms, according to host and founder of The Lighthouse Network and The Working Girl Circle, Nkiru Olumide-Ojo, has an annual vision board and year planning session.

“Given how tough the year has been, we have taken a different approach to speak to the 360 degrees facet of the Working Girl life. Our focus is, through the few hours of coaching, to help the Working Girl understand how she can
bloom regardless of what the economic headwinds of 2022 maybe.”

Speaking on the event, Dorcas Mashingil, Brand Manager Baileys Nigeria, said “It is our pleasure to partner with The LightHouse Network on SheBlooms. This partnership is a testament to the brand’s commitment to connecting and empowering women across several works of life.
Platforms such as this are of increasing relevance in today’s society where women, in an attempt to close up the wage gap, strive to achieve work-life balance.”

Established in 2004, The LightHouse Network has an array of projects designed to serve women across ages, including its youth development programme which focuses on workplace readiness for university undergraduates and for the Working Girl.

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Women of SubstanceOpportunities

WIMBIZ holds mentorship program in Lagos, empowers school girls for nation building

by Women Times on

In a bid to hold its 20th annual conference, Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), recently held a mentorship program aimed at developing and empowering young girls in public secondary schools with the requisite knowledge and tools to excel in life.

The one week program tagged “Big Sister Program”, which aims to deepen the core mandate of WIMBIZ in ensuring that more women attain leadership positions in all facets of life, held in several parts of the country.

To welcome delegates of the association and representatives from the Lagos State government, the principal, Girls’ Senior Secondary Grammar School, Obalende, Ikoyi, Lagos, Mrs. Omotoye Bamidele who was elated commended WIMBIZ for working relentlessly for the wholesome development of the girl child, noting that to ensure that more women attain the highest level in every human endeavour, it is imperative that they develop skills and capacities to attain set goals.

Delivering an address at the event, First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Ibijoko Sanwo-Olu, represented by wife of the Special Adviser to Mr. Governor on Education, Mrs. Oluwatosin Wahab lauded WIMBIZ for the impressive work done to reshape the mindsets of girls for future endeavours.

She said: “Since the launch of the BSP Program in 2016, which is a mentorship initiative for girls in Senior Secondary school, it is noteworthy that teenage girls have been positively impacted, while the female network of WINBIZ has been deployed to influence the girls by boosting their confidence and leadership capacity.”

The First Lady, who asserted that the female child deserves a life where she is treated as equal to a boy, averred that the girl child should be respected, loved, and given a chance to rule like their male counterpart.

Speaking to the girls passionately, Chairman Board of Trustees, WIMBIZ, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Kihodaco charged them to shun peer pressure and work hard to achieve their dreams.

In her words: “You have to be true to yourself. You have to know who you are. You have to work hard and also smart. When you have problem, seek help and counsel from your teachers, principals and your big sisters. Seek help from the right places not where will put you in trouble.”

Restating the association’s objectives, Ngover Ihyembe Nwankwo, Chairperson, WIMBIZ Executive Council, disclosed that the association is built on four pillars, which include to inspire, empower, connect and advocate, adding that the “Big Sister Program” was birthed five years ago to deepen its impact on young girls.

To shed light into what the program entails, Chair, Big Sister Program, Awuneba Ajumogobia said the program, which will avail participants the opportunity to learn valuable skills that will reshape their mindsets, will also inculcate certain values needed to attain success.

In her words: “We are holding the Big Sister Program, a mentorship program where WIMBIZ members who are associates come and share a curriculum with the girls and share their experiences. The subjects they cover include financial literacy, careers, entrepreneurship, self confidence, personal hygiene, interpersonal skills among others.”

She added: “What we hope to achieve is a shift in mindset. We are hoping that every single girl that attends the program today goes home with a shifted mindset in terms of what they can accomplish and how to get there. Goal setting is an important aspect. The goal setting module is the one that actually brings it alive. It helps the girl document tangible stuffs to be able to achieve their aspirations.”

Some of the girls who benefitted from the mentorship program expressed appreciation to WIMBIZ pledging to deploy all the skills and knowledge acquired to attain their life goals and purpose.

One of the students, Umar Aishat said: “This program is an interesting one and very educative. The organization has empowered us. We appreciate their support and we would not let them down.”

Another student, Ngbede Rejoice said: “I want to say a big thank you to WIMBIZ for coming to my school. I have learnt so many things from the Big Sisters. I have learnt to always be true to myself and know who I am. I should be responsible and don’t take no for an answer. I have also learnt to be confident so I can earn my respect.”

Certificate of participation was awarded to the girls at the end of the program.

Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) is a non-profit organization that has, over the last 20 years, implemented programs that inspire, empower and advocate for greater representation of women in leadership positions in the public and private sector.

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Opportunities

Bibian Ugwumba Wins 2021 ONGAlicious Next top Chef Cooking Competition

by Women Times on

Bibian Ugwumba has won the ONGAlicious 2021 next top chef cooking competition under the stable of the culinary brand Onga seasoning

In May, the ONGAlicious Next Top Chef competition kicked off to identify the most promising chefs across higher institutions in Nigeria with the aim to support the future generation of ‘foodpreneurs’ by lending them a helping hand in achieving their dreams.

The final cooking competition which was held on Sunday, 22nd of August 2021 at Red Dish Chronicles Culinary school in Lagos saw the emergence of Bibian as overall winner of a N500,000 grand prize; Joan Azonobor came second place and Rita Okon at third place winning N300,000 and N200,000 respectively. Drawn from ten finalists, the winners were judged based on their creativity, speed, hygiene, taste, and overall outlook of their meals.

The ten finalists who were selected from a first round of cooking competitions held in their respective schools, and were empowered with a week-long fully sponsored course on food entrepreneurship at Red Dish Chronicles, the foremost culinary school in Nigeria.

The other finalists include:
• Diana Joseph, Federal University Kashere, Gombe State
• Farida Salma Abubakar, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna State
• Bamgboye Mayowa, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State
• Olakanola Damilola Adenike, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State

For years, Onga has consistently thrilled Nigeria’s culinary space with various cooking competitions and consumer engagement activities such as the ONGAcious TV Show, ONGA Foodies Hangout, ONGA Jollof Cooking competition, Onga Food4Bae Challenge, and the ONGAlicious Next Top Chef competition.

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Opportunities

Procter and Gamble’s Always launch feminine wellness app to promote wellbeing

by Women Times on

Procter and Gamble’s feminine care brand, Always has launched the Always You app- a period tracker and wellness app in partnership with Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company.

Always You is a free mobile app designed to help women track period cycles, bladder leakage and mood fluctuations as it also incorporates behavioral change tools provided by Thrive Global. Through the app, users can track their wellness – from period to stress levels; track their menstrual cycle and moods to better understand overall wellness; track their wellness and learn how to improve well-being; and interact with expert content, tips and Microsteps from Thrive Global to prioritize your mental and physical well-being.

Laura Magon, senior director of Procter & Gamble for Global Fem Care Innovations, said in a statement: “Always has been working to help build girls’ confidence for more than 35 years, and we are always looking for ways to do more. Our consumers have been using our online period tracker in our Always website for years, and we are now making it more accessible with our new Always You Mobile App. And like everything we do at Always, we saw an opportunity to continue our social impact by turning this into another way for consumers to contribute to help #EndPeriodPoverty.”

Users can also get exclusive access to personalized expert tips and content from Always and Thrive Global — plus Microsteps (small steps that lead to healthier habits and sustainable changes in your life) that you can try and track every day.

Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global stated: “At Thrive, we’re passionate about creating technology that has an impact on people’s lives, and Always You is a perfect example. We’re not just giving people a period tracker. We’re supporting them and celebrating them with our whole human approach to well-being, and providing too-small-to-fail Microsteps they can take immediately to improve their wellness and build confidence.”

Always You has made a commitment to give back by donating period products to underserved individuals. The app awards users donation points when they track their health, complete a Microstep or engage with a piece of content. For every 100 points earned, Always will donate one period product to a partnering nonprofit organization, up to a maximum donation of 1,000,000 pads.

Users earn 20 points for every period or bladder leak event tracked with a maximum of 200 points for period events per month and 10 points per day by completing all Microsteps, and five points for each piece of content consumed.

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Women & BusinessOpportunities

Crown Flour Mill Empowers Women Farmers

by Women Times on

As part of its ongoing strategic investment drive to support Nigeria’s food production self-sufficiency and food security aspirations, and its short to medium term value chain developmental efforts aimed at raising the current local production levels of wheat in the country, Crown Flour Mill (CFM) Limited, a leading flour milling business, has provided farming irrigation equipment to some female wheat farmers in Kano state.

 

The irrigation equipment is meant to assist the female smallholder wheat farmers and ultimately enhance their productivity levels. The irrigation equipment comprising mainly of a high-pressure water pumping machine, were formally presented to the female farmers at a ceremony held on Monday, August 16, 2021 in Giyamusu, Ajingi LGA of the state.

 

The realization of the productivity potential of women smallholder farmers in the country has largely been constrained by poor access to land and farming tools, especially irrigation equipment. Access to modern irrigation infrastructure on the farms boosts the yield of crops. Meanwhile, wheat crops yield higher returns when properly irrigated. The presentation of the pumping machines to the women smallholder farmers marked a needed upturn in women farmers’ aspiration to scale as well as support and meaningfully contribute to the ongoing Federal Government agricultural development programmes.

 

The recipients of the farming irrigation equipment are Lauratu Kassim, a 40-year-old wheat farmer with three years wheat farming experience, Maryam Ahmad, who has been practicing crop cultivation for many years but went fully into wheat farming four years ago and Atika Shuaibu, another 40-year-old female farmer who started wheat farming two years ago. Shuaibu owns a very big farm where she plants rice and other crops and a wheat farm, but has no pumping machine for irrigation. Hasiya Muhammad, who has had to rely on her husband’s farming equipment to sustain operations on her farmland, and 40-year-old Liti Audu are the other beneficiaries of the farming infrastructure support.

 

Special guest at the presentation of the irrigation equipment to the female farmers, the Executive Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Umar Ganduje, ably represented by Hon. Faruk Sule Garo (Senior Special Adviser, Youth Empowerment), appreciated and applauded the effort of CFM in empowering women and investing in the agricultural sector which helps in ensuring the livelihood of millions of Nigerians and in boosting the economy of our country.

 

Speaking about the intervention, Rauda Musa Umar, Wheat Development Programme Officer, CFM, said the organisation is committed to assisting the Government achieve its food security and economic diversification agenda.

According to her, “We will keep providing the necessary farming support and modern agronomic capacity-building training to local wheat farmers to boost wheat farming practices and yields in the country. Our focus, of course, is food security and improving livelihoods.”

 

Dr. Salim Saleh President Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, said, “The various intervention programmes implemented by Crown Flour Mill Limited are laudable. The presentation of these farming equipment to our women will go a long way to boost the women farmers’ productivity and raise the economic contribution levels of the women.”

“Let me seize this opportunity to encourage other corporate organisations and well-meaning Nigerians, especially those operating in the agric value chain, to emulate Crown Flour Mill Limited in developing and boldly executing impactful agricultural development programmes that will reverberate across the local landscape,” he added.

 

Atika Shuaibu, who spoke on behalf of the other women smallholder farmers, expressed her appreciation for the delivery of the irrigation facility.

 

She said, “I am so, so happy to receive the machine. With the irrigation machine, most of us will stop hiring pumping machines to water our crops. We will also have a bigger and better harvest. I thank Crown Flour Mill for this assistance.”

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Opportunities

FirstBank Set To Hold FirstGem Annual Conference 4.0

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First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider is set to organise the fourth edition of its annual FirstGem Conference, tagged FirstGem 4.0.

The event holds Wednesday, 31 March 2021 with the theme ‘The Art of Negotiation’ and convened to provide women with insights on the secrets of wealth management, investment, and savings. Participants are required to register via the link http://bit.ly/firstbankwebinar

The event Guest Speakers are Mrs. Ibukun Awosika – Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria Limited; Prof Pedro Videla – Prof. of Economics at IESE Business School and Prof Mehta Kandarp, Senior Lecturer, IESE Business School. They would respectively speak on the topics; the theme of the International Women’s Day “Choose to Challenge”, the current state of the Global Economy and how it Impacts Business Decisions and Negotiation as a Tool for Winning in Business & Career.

During the event, FirstBank SME customers would be given the opportunity to pitch their business idea and stand a chance to get N1, 000,000 seed fund to kick-start their business. The business ideas would be judged by the following criteria; Originality, Feasibility, Good presentation skills and Sustainability.

Speaking on the event, Mr. Francis Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, Firstbank said “The FirstGem 4.0 is the icing on the cake in the streams of initiatives and activities we have organised and participated in March as we join the world to celebrate women for the indelible roles they play in our society. Through these activities, we spearhead the call on the need to promote women inclusiveness in the country as the role they play towards the continued socio-economic growth and development of any given society cannot be overemphasized.”

Shedding light on the impact of the FirstGem account, he said “our FirstGem account is specifically designed to meet the financial needs of women as it offers unrivalled services that empower women to do more and achieve more. It seeks to drive financial development and the empowerment of women through gender engineered programmes. At FirstBank, we recognize that promoting female entrepreneurship and empowerment is crucial to a better society, “he concluded.

Since the product launch in October 2016, the Bank has implemented various activities targeted at promoting female empowerment, impact and influence in the economy. Through its online portal – designed to provide a virtual online community with over 61,293 members where like-minded women irrespective of where they are in Nigeria and abroad, gather to connect, grow and share knowledge on everything about lifestyle, motherhood, career development, entrepreneurship, health, work and family.

FirstGem has successfully empowered women in states across the geo-political zones in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

 

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Opportunities

David-West, Bakare, Adesakin, Ezekwesili Headline the Second Edition of Zimvest Economic Conversations

by Women Times on

In celebration of Women’s History Month, ZIMVEST (Zedcrest Investment Managers), a new-age digital wealth management firm, has rolled out plans to host a two-hour virtual event to steer economic conversations on the financial gaps that exist among young and middle-aged women in Nigeria and provide plausible strategies and ideas to addressing them.

The event which will be the second edition of Zimvest Economic Conversations series will take place on Tuesday, March 30th, 2021 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm via Zoom [https://bit.ly/3cXtDgS].

Speakers at the session, themed: ‘Filling the Blanks: Addressing gender investing gaps among women in Nigeria’ are Professor Olayinka David West, Senior Fellow and Academic Director, Lagos Business School (Pan Atlantic University); Adesola Adesakin, Founder and CEO, Smart Stewards; Mojisola Bakare, General Manager, Corporate and Investment Banking, Sterling Bank PLC; and Sandra Ezekwesili, On-Air Personality, 99.3 Nigeria Info FM.

Other sub-themes to be discussed are ‘Financial inclusion: why are women disadvantaged and how do we close the gaps?’ by Prof. David-West; ‘Bridging the investing gap among women – What should success look like for women, at various levels?’ by Bakare, General Manager, Corporate and Investment Banking, Sterling Bank and ‘Financial habits of highly successful women: How can women invest at different levels and stages’ by Adesakin, Founder and CEO, Smart Stewards.

According to Nwaka Uzum, Private Wealth Manager, Zedcrest Investment Managers, Zimvest is committed to educating and supporting its existing and potential investors by providing financial advisory as value-added service to them.

She stated that there is a chronic funding mismatch between impactful businesses (including small businesses owned and managed by women) looking for growth finance, and investors decrying the lack of bankable opportunities in frontier markets.

She added that the role of women in Nigeria’s socio-economic development cannot be overemphasized, hence women need to prioritize financial education and investing to salvage their financial future.

Promoting gender equality has been considered a great economic game-changer by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Women accounted for 36% of the 38.6% (38.6 million) financially excluded Nigerians according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and EFInA 2020 report on women’s financial inclusion. It is believed that to tackle the financial inclusion gap in Nigeria, the challenge of gender inequality must be addressed.

The IMF’s latest economic review of Nigeria’s economy further supported that closing the gender gap would mean higher growth and productivity, and greater economic stability.

Zimvest, the Asset Management subsidiary of Zedcrest Group, plans to be at the centre of a continuing conversation series around Investment management and economic policy landscapes.

The event promises to be educative, informative, and enriching for intending participants. For more information, please visit Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Zimvest Economic Conversations Series – IWD edition. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

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Opportunities

LinkedIn Launches IWD Global Campaign to Support Working Women

by Women Times on

For the first time, LinkedIn launched an IWD global campaign. This social campaign aims to engage people across the world in an important conversation about the stress women have experienced during the pandemic.

The campaign starts off with a film directed by Jessie Ayles. This short showcases women from around the world sharing their real life issues. The seven women who appear in the film speak candidly about their experience during the pandemic in the hopes of highlighting possible solutions.

 

The entire project is highly dependent on engagement from people across the globe. So, with their #WeCanDoIT, LinkedIn’s plan is to gather everyone in a community with one cause – to promote working women throughout the year, not just on March 8.

Created by an international communications agency VCCP, the campaign will publish advice, insights and inspirational stories to celebrate women’s voices on and off the LinkedIn platform and encourage conversations that help and empower them. The use of the hashtag also encourages influencers and the wider community to get involved.

Ngaire Moyes, senior director of brand and communications at LinkedIn said: “Women have faced greater economic hardship through the Covid-19 pandemic, disproportionately losing jobs and income. Through the #WeCanDoIt campaign, we hope to  elevate the voices of our female members across the platform and encourage others to share their personal stories in a bid to help and empower working women around the world.”

This campaign will be present across its PR, social media, influencer content as well as through LinkedIn’s channels: LinkedIn News, LinkedIn Learning, LinkedIn Marketing and LinkedIn Employee Resource Groups.

 

 

 

Credit: Marketing Mag

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