The Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Cecilia Bolaji Dada, has advised women to avail themselves of the many platforms initiated by the State government for financial independence.
The Commissioner gave the advice on Thursday at the closing ceremony of a seven-day virtual entrepreneurial Masterclass training tagged: “She Works Here”, accelerator programme organised by the Lagos State Government in collaboration with SME-NG and the Bank of Industry, for female small business owners.
She stated the present administration is committed to promoting women development and poverty reduction as a means to attaining Sustainable Developmental Goals, adding that the State government is also ready to partner with NGOs, Public and Private Organisations on programmes targeted at women and children development.
While urging participants to take advantage of the business tips and entrepreneurial strategies they have been taught, Mrs. Dada stressed that the objective of the workshop will only be accomplished when trainees put all they have learnt into practice in a bid to improve themselves and enhance their businesses.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary, WAPA, Mrs. Oluyemi Kalesanwo, enjoined the participants to maximise the knowledge garnered at the programme, saying that “the primary focus of the Masterclass is to train women on financial literacy, after which they will be on-boarded to the Ebi-Market place, an online platform, to expose their businesses to buyers.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of SME-NG, Barrister Thelma Ekiyor, stated that the workshop is an investment readiness accelerator programme aimed at educating entrepreneurs on financial literacy, even as it avails them of business strategies to help them become successful entrepreneurs.
Her words: “The ‘She Works Here’ accelerator programme is Nigeria’s first non-technical all women focused training programme by an experienced faculty, linking them to business mentors, peer learning and connecting these women-owned businesses to finance. The goal of the accelerator programme is to improve the capacities of women entrepreneurs and build a pipeline of investment-ready, women-owned businesses”.
The interactive workshop had about 170 Lagos State-based women entrepreneurs, ranging from the automobile business to Agriculture, pastry etc., who were allowed to pitch their business ideas and were graded accordingly with the processes adopted.
One of the participants, Mrs. Gbonju Awojuyide, said “I am the CEO of Wandy Foods, an aggro allied company that processes plantain flour and others. Within one week of participating in this programme. I can now identify the need to help other women using networking for optimal growth”.
