Social networking company, Facebook, has launched SheMeansBusiness as a platform to train Nigerian female entrepreneurs and enable them grow their businesses.
Ms Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s Public Policy Director for Africa, says SheMeansBusiness was designed to inspire women to start and grow their own businesses.
A study conducted by Development Economics on behalf of Facebook shows that businesses set up by women in Nigeria, over the next five years, will bring in N19.7 billion into the Nigerian economy, and create 8.9 million jobs, Okobi says at the launch.
A study conducted by Development Economics on behalf of Facebook shows that businesses set up by women in Nigeria, over the next five years, will bring in N19.7 billion into the Nigerian economy, and create 8.9 million jobs.
“We know that when women do better, economies do better. The study conducted by Development Economics further highlights this, with the research suggesting that an estimated seven million new businesses could be set up by women in Nigeria by 2021. This places a greater importance on women’s entrepreneurial ambitions for overall economic and social development of the country”, the Facebook Director says.
In her own remark on the initiative, Ms Sherry Dzinoreva, Policy Programmes Manager, EMEA at Facebook says the Nigeria launch was the first in Africa, while explaining the SheMeansBusiness had been launched in Turkey, United Kingdom and Mexico, among other countries.
“SheMeansBusiness aims to train 50,000 female small and mediun entrepreneurs (SMEs) and create opportunities that would inspire and empower others,” she says.
Facebook says in order to bridge the confidence gap, it is imperative for women to be connected to people who will motivate them to do more and such motivations should include the desire to make money and create jobs.
On her part, , Ms Afua Osei, co-founder of ‘She Leads Africa’, said that her organisation was partnering with Facebook to train women in SMEs to grow their businesses. With the right digital tools and support, African women would be able compete at the global level, she says.
SheMeansBusiness will bring together thousands of female entrepreneurs in a series of workshops and training sessions across six cities in Nigeria – Lagos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja and Aba, Osei says.
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