The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has facilitated the disbursement of $710,000 (about N979.8m) in grants to 128 women-owned export-oriented Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by the council’s Deputy Director and Head of Corporate Communications, Aliu Seidu Sadiq, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NEPC, Nonye Ayeni, disclosed this during a town hall meeting with exporters.
The grants were awarded under the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy Fund, a global initiative designed to help women entrepreneurs adopt digital technologies, improve their export competitiveness and access international markets.
She said the grants were to strengthen efforts aimed at boosting non-oil exports and expanding the participation of Nigerian women in international digital trade.
Ayeni said 121 women-owned businesses received Discovery Grants of $5,000 each, while seven enterprises were awarded Booster Grants of $15,000 each, bringing the total amount disbursed to $710,000, equivalent to N979.8m.
She said the achievement followed Nigeria’s selection as one of only four countries worldwide to benefit from the pilot phase of the initiative.
Ayeni said the overwhelming response from Nigerian women entrepreneurs reflected their readiness to compete in global markets.
She stated, “The WEIDE Secretariat in Geneva received an overwhelming 67,000 applications from Nigerian women-owned export businesses facilitated by the NEPC, spanning diverse sectors of the economy.
“The overwhelming response, which is the highest among the four beneficiary countries, is a clear testament to the immense potential of Nigerian women entrepreneurs and their readiness to take on global markets.”
Beyond the financial grants, Ayeni said the beneficiaries also participated in intensive capacity-building programmes held in Lagos and Abuja to strengthen their competitiveness in international trade.
She explained that the training covered export readiness, digital trade, e-commerce, branding and marketing, business planning, financial management, market access strategies, sustainability and the effective use of digital platforms to expand export sales.
The WEIDE Fund is a joint initiative of the International Trade Centre and the World Trade Organization, with financial support from the United Arab Emirates, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Legacy Fund and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The $50m global fund was established to bridge the digital financing gap facing women-led MSMEs by providing access to finance, business development support, digital skills and international market opportunities.
