Female-led businesses in Nigeria encounter various challenges such as inadequate access to capital, poor access to information, cultural norms and many more. However, despite these, they continue to show resilience and high levels of optimism in the face of these impossible odds for the future of their businesses.

While the entrepreneurial drive of Nigerian women is not in question, the high-level of participation of female entrepreneurs is often driven by necessity, with many often remaining at the micro level. Considering the impact women-led businesses continue to make despite the challenges they face, it is imperative that the government and ecosystem players take a more intentional approach to supporting this demographic segment for greater impact particularly since investing in these businesses produce ripple benefits.

This White Paper by the FATE Institute of FATE Foundation takes a look at how to effectively support women-led businesses to grow sustainably in Nigeria by seeking to understand the challenges they face while proffering relevant recommendations and/or interventions.

Using extended depth interviews to get a sense of the challenges female-led businesses face and proposed solutions, the FATE Institute engaged with representatives in three (3) of the states recording high numbers of women-led businesses and some key entrepreneurship ecosystem players across entrepreneurship segments in Nigeria. Entrepreneurship segments include capacity building, access to finance, access to markets, business support, access to resources, policy & regulation and research & development.

The white-paper provides findings on the:

• Challenges facing female-led businesses
• Recommendations on supporting female-led businesses to grow sustainably in Nigeria
• Ongoing programs for female-led businesses offered by stakeholders engaged

Click here to download.