Nigerian banks have been urged to reduce collateral requirements and create dedicated fund for women involved in small and medium-scale enterprises to enable them access funding which is the main challenge, hampering their businesses.
Recent survey by the Gates’ Foundation on women’s economic ambitions showed that 34% of Nigerian women want to own or expand a business, but access to funding remains a barrier while 62% of them say lack of start-up capital or equipment is the primary obstacle to achieving their business goals.
According to the data, lack of access to land is the biggest obstacle for women interested in agriculture due to cultural practices that prevent them from inheriting land while the top three areas of interest for Nigerian women are agriculture, fashion, and food.
Consequently, speakers at an online women’s economic empowerment media conversation advocated solutions to these challenges to enable women scale up their businesses and contribute to economic advancement.
The founder of TOS Group, Osasu Igbinedion-Ogwuche said collateral remains one of the biggest barriers preventing women from accessing loans and urged banks to create interventions that allow women running small and medium-scale enterprises, access funding without stringent requirements.
Igbinedion-Ogwuche said Nigerian women have already proven their creditworthiness as 95% of them repay their loans on time, adding that it was time for policymakers and financial institutions to recognise this and implement solutions that enable women to grow and scale their businesses.
“There have been successful local initiatives in Nigeria, such as the Dangote and BOI Fund, Access Bank’s W Power Loan Fund, FCMB’s gender loans, and Sterling Bank’s Women in Agri-Business Fund. However, one standout global example is Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, founded by Muhammad Yunus, which has lifted over 50 million people out of poverty through micro-lending—most of them women.
“This model proves that access to capital is not just about financial inclusion; it is a powerful tool for social and economic transformation. When women have the resources to build and scale their businesses, they don’t just improve their own lives—they uplift entire communities. This is the kind of impact we should strive for in Nigeria,” she said.
For her part, Founder of Eden Venture Group, Fifehan Osikanlu called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enforce a 30-40% mandatory lending requirement for women by commercial banks and ensure 50% access to intervention funds.
She said data tells its own story, and it is critical that the media lean into the data available on what women truly need and how investing in them drives economic development, adding that the conversation must shift from ‘let’s support women’ to ‘investing in women is investing in national growth.’
Osikanlu noted that the media have a crucial role to play in reshaping this narrative—not just by highlighting individual success stories but by showcasing systemic change and the scale of impact.
“This also influences adoption: for example, some financial institutions report low participation from women despite making funding available. If more women see real examples of success, especially in regions where participation is lower, they may feel more encouraged to pursue these opportunities.
“To drive meaningful change, the media must move beyond storytelling—it must use data and evidence to push for investment in women as a national economic strategy.
“Storytelling and narrative shaping are crucial for driving real change. Ths is why media conversations like this are so important—we must consistently push the message that polices like mandatory lending quotas for women are not optional but necessary.
“Too often, the dominant narrative portrays women as helpless or unserious, but the reality is different. The more policymakers and government actors are confronted with these facts—especially through the media—the more pressure there is to drive real accountability and reform,” she added.
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