Facebook supports Nigerian women to help grow businesses, launches #SheMeansBusiness

Facebook has launched SheMeansBusiness in Nigeria, a platform aims at training female entrepreneurs and help them grow their businesses.

Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s public policy director for Africa, said that SheMeansBusiness was designed to inspire women to start and grow their own businesses.

A study conducted by Development Economics on behalf of Facebook shows that businesses set up by women in Nigeria, over the next five years, will bring in N19.7 billion into the Nigerian economy, and create 8.9 million jobs.

The Nigeria launch was the first in Africa, while SheMeansBusiness had been launched in Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, among other countries.

Sherry Dzinoreva, policy programmes manager, EMEA at Facebook said, “SheMeansBusiness aims to train 50,000 female small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) and create opportunities that would inspire and empower others.”

The goal, according to her is to instil in women a desire to do more through making money and creating jobs, it is therefore very important for women to be connected to people who will provide the motivation necessary to accomplish this. This is how they will bridge the confidence gap.

Afua Osei, co-founder of ‘She Leads Africa’, said that her organisation was partnering with Facebook to train women in SME’to grow their businesses. With the right digital tools and support, African women would be able to compete on a global level.

SheMeansBusiness will bring together female entrepreneurs in a series of workshops and training sessions across six cities in Nigeria – Lagos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja, and Osei.