Seven Ways to Empower Women in Business Enterprises

Website design By BotEap.comIn 2008, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reported that 52,000 Nigerian women died annually due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. In more understandable terms, the number translates to 145 women per day.

Website design By BotEap.comPopulation is a critical asset for any nation, with far-reaching social, political, and economic consequences. In Nigeria, it also proves to be a controversial issue due to regional, inter-state and ethnic ramifications. However, the decline in its female population has consequences that go far beyond the immediately obvious effect of a rapidly skewing sex ratio. Nigeria has ambitious plans for rapid development to place it among the top twenty economies in the world by 2020. The ultimate success of this effort is inextricably linked to business performance, as well as the management of its women, who represent almost half of its human resource. total.

Website design By BotEap.comAlthough there are dissenting voices on the subject, it is widely accepted that women in Nigeria are systematically discriminated against, harassed and abused at home and at work, and suffer from violent crime and unequal treatment both inside and outside their homes. Deeply entrenched regressive and repressive practices have brought constant misery to Nigerian women in various forms: social inferiority, economic disempowerment, denial of access to property and inheritance, sexual abuse, trafficking, and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Website design By BotEap.comA 2000 World Bank study entitled ‘Can Africa Claim the 21st Century’ makes two fundamental premises that are especially valid for Nigeria2:

Website design By BotEap.com* Gender inequality is both an economic and a social problem.

Website design By BotEap.com* Greater gender equality could be a powerful force to accelerate poverty reduction in Africa.

Website design By BotEap.comGiven the situation of acute poverty in Nigeria, where close to 76 million are officially classified as poor and 54% of the citizenry live on less than $1 a day, the empowerment of women and their valuable inclusion in development processes is key. for sustainable growth. The country has huge oil and natural gas reserves that have earned it an estimated $600 billion over the last half century. However, successive decades of political turmoil and government mismanagement have left the vast majority of its people destitute, leaving them facing multiple problems stemming from the unequal distribution of wealth and an extreme divide between rich and poor. . Illiteracy, unemployment, rampant crime and organized violence are just some of the results of this unfortunate situation.

Website design By BotEap.comThe impact of Nigeria’s history has been particularly severe on its women, leading many to start traditional village-level businesses to earn a living and supplement family income. The motivation here, importantly, is basic survival (food, clothing, household necessities) and not wealth creation. Faced with often insurmountable circumstantial challenges, individual and group women entrepreneurs have traditionally clung to extremely small-scale enterprises in the manufacturing and service sectors, largely without any organizational support or guidance.

Website design By BotEap.comInterestingly, this sad state of affairs is, at the same time, an attribute that offers policymakers a substantial, albeit latent, advantage. By virtue of their involvement in village and field level enterprises, Nigerian women are already an active business group with untapped economic and human resource potential. Perhaps to overtly simplify, all they need is a policy push in the right direction to help them capitalize on their increased talents for comprehensive development in their country’s battered landscape.

Website design By BotEap.comThe fate of both Nigeria’s 2020 target and the Millennium Development Goals depends substantially on its ability to drive a business revolution that adequately develops and harnesses the latent capabilities of its huge female population. The following are 7 creative proposals that could make it happen:

Website design By BotEap.com1. Introduce legal reforms to guarantee women’s equal rights to property, inheritance and financial control; with a view to reinforcing their special skills and strengths and harnessing them for immediate and long-term macroeconomic benefits, both locally and nationally.

Website design By BotEap.com2. Reprioritize budget expenditures and official spending models with the specific objective of improving gender equality, through the implementation of special plans and programs that effectively promote the participation of women in business activities.

Website design By BotEap.com3. Enforce equitable gender participation through the development of a business activity focused on women that takes into account their socio-cultural, legal and economic limitations. Policy changes must be initiated to overcome obstacles to women’s gainful participation in viable businesses.

Website design By BotEap.com4. Initiate government incentive programs for existing and emerging companies that proactively engage women at different hierarchies. Educate current and future entrepreneurs about the unique business and social advantages they can derive from this dynamic group.

Website design By BotEap.com5. Facilitate partnerships between women and financial, advisory and support agencies; in a way that makes up for your lack of formal business acumen, experience, and access to finance. Foster partnerships between women entrepreneurs in related sectors to help share expertise and resources.

Website design By BotEap.com6. Institute effective start-up and ongoing support structures with safety net provisions to provide ongoing financial, technical, and know-how assistance and minimize failure rates. Ensure the effectiveness at ground level of such measure through continuous monitoring and survey.

Website design By BotEap.com7. Improve accountability on women’s empowerment issues at the state and federal government level through an impartial review of executive agencies and relevant state-sponsored programs. Properly highlight achievements and deficiencies that allow a constructive evolution of said practices.

Website design By BotEap.comIn terms of subjective ground reality, these suggestions are by no means definitive or exhaustive; however, they uphold the broad framework that any substantial policy reorientation must incorporate in order to achieve the accelerated and sustainable economic growth that Abuja has envisioned. Localized adaptation is necessary for each guideline in order to adequately address historical and regional imperatives. Furthermore, there is a considerable amount of introspection and preliminary work that must be done before these parameters can be established. Basic human development initiatives, especially those related to easy and universal access to health care and modern education, are paramount. Nigeria has inherited a wide spectrum of critical infrastructure, logistics and energy deficiencies that need to be addressed sufficiently in advance. There are additional and significant risks related to policy changes that must be recognized and anticipated.

Website design By BotEap.comFor the purpose of encouragement, what Nigerian leaders and policymakers might do well to take seriously is an old aphorism: one that says you invest in the whole community when you invest in women!