Nigeria Wants 10 Million Women to Become Its Next Growth Engine

Nigeria is moving to implement a government-led initiative aimed at expanding women’s access to digital skills, employment and financial opportunities, following a two-day summit in Abuja that brought together government officials, development partners and private-sector organisations.

The SheIsIncluded initiative, convened by the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI) and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The summit was held under the theme “Designing for Delivery: Financing. Systems. Scale.” The initiative aims to bring 10 million Nigerian women within reach of skills, recognised credentials and economic opportunities through a coordinated national delivery model.

“For too long, women have largely been beneficiaries of intervention programmes. What we want now is to economically empower them so they become co-creators of prosperity,” Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, minister of women affairs and social development, said during the summit.

Nurudeen Zauro, technical adviser to the president on economic and financial inclusion and secretary of PreCEFI, said the summit marked a shift from policymaking to implementation.

“The summit marks a decisive transition from policy conversations to practical implementation.”

Ubuntu Tribe, the initiative’s implementation and technology partner, is supporting the programme through mobile-first learning delivered in local languages. Women use their phones to access training and receive verifiable credentials intended to be recognised by employers and financial institutions.

“A woman should not need wealth or proximity to opportunity to develop a valuable skill. Ubuntu’s role is to put that opportunity within reach through the phone already in her hand and a credential the economy can recognise. Access becomes meaningful when it opens a path to real economic participation. Ubuntu is the engine behind Nigeria’s movement. Individual transformation multiplied becomes national transformation,” Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, founder of Ubuntu Tribe, said.

Under the programme, women enrol by phone, acquire practical skills, receive credentials and can use them to pursue employment, entrepreneurship or financial opportunities.

Women participating in the initiative do not pay for the training. Its organisers say delivery is supported by a coalition of government agencies, development partners and private-sector organisations.

Nigeria has identified women’s economic participation as part of its broader economic development strategy. Federal government figures show that national digital skills initiatives have reached more than 263,000 Nigerians, while greater participation by women is part of the country’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The figures and targets are federal government data and policy objectives and are not results attributable to SheIsIncluded or Ubuntu Tribe.

The programme’s organisers say its progress will be measured by the number of women gaining recognised skills and credentials and using them to access employment, entrepreneurship and financial opportunities.

Genevieve Nnaji (Nigeria)

Most Famous Movie: Lionheart (2018)

Short Bio: Genevieve Nnaji is a Nigerian actress, producer, and director. She is considered one of the pioneers of the modern Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) and is one of the most recognizable faces in African cinema. Her directorial debut, Lionheart, was the first Nigerian film acquired by Netflix.

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