Experts Advocate Financial Literacy, Enterprise Support Initiatives For Women

Experts in enterprise development have said initiatives that address structural economic gaps rather than surface-level needs are beginning to attract closer attention.

Speaking at a forum in Lagos yesterday, the experts said corporate social responsibility in Nigeria has often struggled with a credibility problem, as too many programmes are designed for visibility rather than impact, producing reports but leaving little trace in the communities they claim to serve.

According to an enterprise development expert, Charles Ojo, if available socioeconomic data is considered, the urgency of this shift becomes clear, as Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate has improved over the past decade, rising to about 74 per cent in 2024, yet an estimated 27 million adults remain excluded from formal financial services. He added that a disproportionate share of that population is female, particularly in rural and low-income communities where access to banking infrastructure and financial education is limited.

He said, “At the same time, the informal economy, where most of these women operate, continues to expand. It accounts for a dominant share of employment and a significant portion of national output. Within this space, women are not marginal participants; they are central actors, running micro-enterprises that sustain households and local markets. The contradiction is stark. Women power a large segment of economic activity, yet they remain excluded from the financial systems that could stabilise and grow their businesses.”

Another expert who spoke at the forum, James Onoja, cited the example of an intervention, the “Empower Her” programme by the Airtel Africa Foundation, delivered through Airtel Nigeria. He said, “Positioned as a financial literacy and enterprise support initiative for women in the informal economy, the programme suggests a shift in how CSR is being conceived — less as philanthropy and more as a response to systemic economic constraints. Empower Her programme, already rolled out across Lagos, Oyo, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory, has trained nearly 2,000 women in its first phase, combining financial education with access to digital tools and enterprise support.”

He added that participants in the programme are introduced to core business practices, including budgeting, savings discipline, pricing and record-keeping, while also being onboarded onto digital financial platforms such as mobile wallets and agent banking systems, adding that the approach is deliberately practical and aimed at influencing how businesses operate on a daily basis.

Chairman of the Airtel Africa Foundation, Segun Ogunsanya, framed the programme as an economic intervention with broader implications. “This programme is beyond charity; it is strategy,” he said, pointing to the wider benefits that come when women are able to engage more effectively with financial systems.

The experts also posited that this framing aligns with a growing body of evidence linking financial inclusion to poverty reduction. They explained that studies indicate that expanding access to formal financial services, particularly when combined with financial literacy, can improve outcomes. According to them, this has a measurable impact on income stability and economic mobility.

“In Nigeria, where over 80 million people are estimated to live below the poverty line, these linkages are central to development policy. For CSR programmes, this raises an important question: should interventions prioritise visibility or structural relevance? By focusing on financial literacy and digital inclusion, a programme like Empower Her targets constraints at the heart of Nigeria’s economic challenges: limited financial knowledge, low adoption of formal services, and reliance on cash transactions, which contribute to business fragility, particularly among micro-enterprises. Airtel’s collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria ensures that training is grounded in practical business realities, while Smartcash Payment Service Bank provides tools that participants can immediately adopt,” Onoja said.

The director general of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, underscored the broader impact of such interventions. “When you empower a woman, you empower a community,” he said, highlighting the ripple effects that extend beyond individual businesses.