By Bassey Udo
Federal Government policies and financial market reforms will help tackle persistent barriers women-owned businesses face, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has said
The Minister who spoke on Monday
at the grand finale of the “Give to Gain” Summit in Abuja to mark the 2026 International Women’s Month, identified some of the barriers to include limited access to credit, markets, and long-term capital.
She said part of the government policies and reforms included shifting from advocacy to targeted interventions designed to unlock the economic potential of women.
Hajia Sulaiman-Ibrahim disclosed that over 80 percent of women-owned businesses in Nigeria currently lacked access to formal credit, largely confining them to the informal sector and limiting their growth.
To address this, she noted the rollout of the Renewed Hope Social Impact Interventions (RH-SII 774), a nationwide programme structured to deliver grants, microcredit, and enterprise financing to women across all 774 local government areas, as part of the solution.
The initiative, she pointed out, goes beyond funding to include skills acquisition, vocational training, agricultural value-chain support, clean energy solutions, and structured mentorship, all aimed at helping women scale their businesses sustainably.
The intervention, she said, was backed by the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Policy (2023), which provides a framework for measurable and scalable outcomes in women-focused economic programmes.
In a major policy shift, the minister announced the approval of an Affirmative Procurement Policy that guarantees women-owned businesses improved access to government contracts, opening up public procurement as a critical growth channel.
“This landmark intervention ensures structured and equitable access for women-owned enterprises to participate in public procurement processes, thereby opening government contracting systems as engines of inclusion and shared prosperity.
“It represents a decisive shift from policy intention to enforceable economic access. In the spirit of our theme, “Give to Gain,” it affirms that when the State deliberately gives women fair opportunity in procurement systems, the nation gains in productivity, competitiveness, and inclusive growth”, the Minister said.
On the financial markets side, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, represented by Executive Commissioner, Operations, Mr. Bola Ajomale, emphasised the need to move women entrepreneurs from reliance on short-term financing to long-term wealth creation through the capital market.
Agama said while millions of Nigerian women were actively engaged in micro and small businesses, the key challenge was their limited access to investment instruments that enable business expansion and asset ownership.
“Nigerian women currently own 41 percent of micro-businesses in this country, with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating in that segment — placing Nigeria among the highest rates of female entrepreneurship globally, surpassing the 21 percent global average.
“These women are not waiting to be empowered. They are already driving commerce. What they lack is not ambition, they lack access to the instruments that would allow their ambition to compound,” Agama said.
To bridge this gap, Agama outlined measures being implemented by the Commission, including the expansion of retail access to the capital market through technology-driven platforms that reduce entry barriers for first-time investors, especially women.
He said the Commission was also scaling investor education in local languages to improve financial literacy, particularly in underserved regions where exclusion rates remain high.
In addition, he explained that the SEC was promoting low-cost investment products tailored to women and small-scale entrepreneurs, enabling participation in collective investment schemes even at modest income levels.
Agama further noted that the Commission was integrating gender-focused considerations into Nigeria’s sustainable finance framework, creating opportunities for women-led businesses to access targeted funding through instruments such as gender-responsive and sustainability-linked securities.
To build trust and encourage participation, he said efforts were also being intensified to strengthen investor protection through improved market transparency, disclosure standards, and accessible dispute resolution mechanisms.
He called on private sector players to complement government efforts by lowering market access barriers, expanding financial services to underserved communities, and increasing women’s representation in corporate leadership.