COVID-19: How Kwara Women Grew 20,000 SMEs To 87,000

What started as an online business as an alternative to the physical market with 20, 000 women during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Ilorin, Kwara State has grown to 87,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Founder of the COVID-19 Alternative Market known as “Ilorin Market Place” Rukayat Alaya disclosed this during a three-day trade fair organised for members of the Ilorin Market Place to showcase their products ahead of Eid-el- Kabir festival.

LEADERSHIP reports that about 100 registered SMEs attended the trade fair held at Ilorin Stadium Complex.

Delivering her speech at the fair yesterday, Alaya  said the objective of the fair is to support enterprising women to “build commerce and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kwara State.”

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‘’I founded and innovated Ilorin Market Place during Covid-19 pandemic lockdown as an alternative online market where women who are deprived of transacting in physical markets in Ilorin and its environs can still sell their market and make a living. Just two weeks after founding Ilorin Market Place, the market grew to 20 000. This shows that Women SMEs in Kwara State have been craving for these innovations for a very long time. Today, the Ilorin market place has over 87,000 members.

“It is the inner desire to build a commerce and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kwara State that led to the Ilorin Marketplace Trade Fair. Look at how huge and innovative the Trade Fair set-up is. This is a clearer indication of the power of a strong woman.

“Women are strong, women are intelligent and the power of any woman to uplift her community is second to none,” she said.

She called on the government at all levels and corporate bodies to support women to grow SMEs in the state.

“Women need support from Government and Corporate Organizations in order to grow their business. This is why I approached Access Bank Headquarters to come to women SMEs aids in Kwara State. The trade fair is a means of empowering women and also to appreciate their efforts. Access Bank is giving a Grant of 500,000 Naira to three women today as a means of supporting the women,” she said.

The group head, Women Banking, Access Bank, Lagos, Abiodun Olubitan and the bank’s regional manager (Kwara), Olufemi Akapo, said the bank supported the fair because it believed it would have a ripple effect on businesses and encourage growth of SMEs.

“We are supporting the Ilorin market place just to show that we actually love SMEs and not just SMS, we  also love women and as a women business we are  supporting the organiser of this trade fair- the Ilorin market place to give women the platform they need to grow their businesses.  Since COVID-19,  a lot of them have not been able to come back fully to business but this kind of platform gives them the opportunity to showcase their businesses to a wide range of people,” Olubitan said.