By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu/Nifemi Fawehinmi
The MTN Foundation says that women account for 43.7 per cent of its beneficiaries, reflecting deliberate efforts to promote gender inclusion through its interventions.
MTN Foundation’s Executive Director, Dr. Odunayo Sanya, disclosed this during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between itself and the UN Women on Friday in Lagos.
Sanya said the MoU was for an initiative to improve rural women’s economic participation and productivity.
According to her, the UN Women and itself are partnering to empower 200 rural female entrepreneurs in Cross River and Kano State through skills development, financial inclusion, market access and processing hubs.
“This Y’elloPreneur initiative is established to address challenges facing female entrepreneurs, particularly limited access to capacity building, funding and markets needed for business growth.
“The Foundation has supported 122 women entrepreneurs with N304 million, and this new programme will provide training, business development support, pitching opportunities and funding access.
“We have a target to hit 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female participation by 2030 on the Y’elloPreneur initiative.
“It is a known fact that when a woman is empowered, she becomes a multiplier who transforms communities and strengthens the economy,” Sanya said.
The executive director added that the Y’elloPreneur initiative had built the capacity of over 6,000 female entrepreneurs, while creating opportunities for women to access funding and markets.
She said beneficiaries of the new programme would undergo entrepreneurship training at the Enterprise Development Centre before developing business proposals and accessing funding for viable enterprises.
In her remark, the UN Women’s Country Representative, Beatrice Eyong, said the partnership would support rural women to embrace digital opportunities and participate actively in Nigeria’s digital economy.
“Without digital inclusion, many rural women will remain excluded from opportunities shaping our future economy,” Eyong said.
She declared that Kano and Cross River were selected due to their agricultural activities, particularly in rice and cassava production, which offered opportunities for value addition and improved livelihoods.
Similarly, the Head of Internal Audit and Forensic, MoMo PSB, Dr Howard Edafe, declared that the bank would support the initiative by expanding financial education and inclusion across participating communities.
Edafe said interested women would be identified through transparent, community-based selection processes to ensure fairness and effective implementation of the entrepreneurship empowerment programme.
“Our commitment goes beyond today’s signing. We will drive financial inclusion, strengthen financial education and ensure transparent beneficiary selection for successful programme implementation,” Edafe said. (NAN)
Edited by Christiana Fadare