Women entrepreneurs want impactful policies for development

The new President of the Nigerian Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE), Vera Ndanusa, has called on the government to create a monitoring team to make sure economic policies bear a direct impact on women entrepreneurs.
Ndanusa made the call in Abuja during her inauguration as the sixth president of NAWE.

She stated the need for the Buhari-led administration to involve more women in governance, noting that the new executive would focus on sensitization to reawaken women to their responsibility in nation-building.

She advised the government to collaborate with relevant organizations to provide necessary capacity-building in modern technology in agriculture and also Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises for a secured and peaceful business environment.

According to her, “When it comes to farming, women in Nigeria are mostly subsistence farmers; now that we have decided on agriculture, the first thing is to assess lands and funds that will empower small scale farmers.”

“Government and international agencies should tailor their programmes to encourage the empowerment of women in sustainable agriculture while financial institutions should be women-friendly in their lending considering women’s role in food security,’’

Ndanusa noted that the association seeks a bill at the National Assembly allowing women to own land officially from family inheritance.

The new NAWE boss also said the association will set up NAWE houses in all the 36 States of the federation and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, to create a unique and highly flexible combination of business development process and infrastructure.

Ndanusa pledged to go ahead with programmes to strengthen professionalism through education, training, and resources while ensuring that members have assistance to develop the skills and framework required of a modern entrepreneurial world.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Adeniyi Adebayo, who was represented by the Ministry’s Assistant Director on Gender, Hajara Usman, commended the association for contributing to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and encouraged more women to join the crusade as the task ahead was enormous.

He said that the Nigerian population reviewed that women constituted 49.3 per cent of the total population, adding that the figure was significant and its effect could not be downplayed in the matter of economic growth and development in Nigeria.

“Women constitute part of the human resources with which both firms and government can optimize being objective function.

“An economy that successfully attracts and nurtures entrepreneurs in various categories is likely to sustain economic growth,’’ the Minister said.

He added that to sustain the Federal Government’s passion for empowerment and gender inclusion as a tool for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, 45 per cent was dedicated to women in the Federal Government’s MSMEs Survival Fund.