FCMB, SME.NG urge women to lead in driving business growth

Women in Nigeria have been urged to play a more active and frontal role to stimulate the growth of businesses and overall development.

In addition, they 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.

The advice was given by the President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Fund for Women (GFW), Ms. Latanya Mapp Frett, who was the Special Guest Speaker at the 4th edition of the Women Financing Women (WFW) Group meeting hosted by leading financial services provider, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and SME.NG (Nigeria’s SME Impact Investment Platform) in Lagos.

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.

According to Ms. Frett, 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.

Ms. Frett informed that the Global Fund for Women has in the last 35 years intervened and supported women in various ways. She listed this to include funding of over 5,000 women-owned businesses across the world since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the creation of a feminist funding model, under which GFW works with a network of partners to ensure that women can fund the business of other women through grants of between $10,000 and $100,000 for a period of 3yrs.