Onome Amuge
The Chevening Alumni Association of Nigeria (CAAN), in collaboration with civic organisation DO Take Action, has officially launched a new initiative to address the gender disparity in Nigeria’s public procurement sector. The programme, titled Scaling Women’s Economic Empowerment through Affirmative Procurement (SWEEAP), will equip 600 women-owned and women-led businesses (WOLBs) in Kano and Rivers States with the necessary skills to compete for and win public contracts.
The initiative is backed by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through its Chevening Alumni Programme Fund (CAPF), which supports alumni-led projects aimed at driving positive change.
The launch of SWEEAP comes at a time when gender-responsive procurement (GRP) policies are gaining traction in Nigeria, with stakeholders calling for reforms to ensure women entrepreneurs can compete on an equitable footing. Public procurement in Nigeria is a substantial economic lever, accounting for up to 15 per cent of the national GDP, yet women-led businesses secure only a fraction of these contracts.
DO Take Action, the civic organisation leading the implementation, has a track record in this area. Over the past two years, it has partnered with global institutions like UN Women and the World Bank to advance GRP reforms, building the capacity of over 2,600 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria and across West and Central Africa. The SWEEAP project is designed to deepen and scale this impact.
Speaking at the launch, Precious Ebere Chinonso, CEO of DO Take Action and a Chevening Alumna, underscored the programme’s urgency. “Scaling Women Economic Empowerment through Affirmative Procurement is about breaking barriers that have kept women at the margins of public procurement for too long. We’re leveraging capacity-building, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement to ensure women are not just included but prioritised in procurement systems,” she said.
Kester Osahenye, president of CAAN, also remarked on the broader ambition of the project. “This initiative goes beyond training. It’s about inspiring the behavioural change needed for women to see themselves as capable, competitive players in procurement,” he said.
Osahenye noted that in addition to directly benefiting 600 businesses, the project also aims to influence procurement policies at the state level, making gender-responsive procurement a national policy priority.
The project’s significance for bilateral relations was also highlighted by Oluwafunmilayo Ladepo, a programme officer at Chevening Awards. She stated that the SWEEAP initiative exemplifies how strategic alumni-led initiatives can contribute meaningfully to advancing the development agenda in Nigeria, particularly in promoting inclusive economic growth, while also strengthening UK-Nigeria collaboration.
Applications for the first cohort of the SWEEAP programme are now open to women-owned and women-led businesses in Kano and Rivers States that are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. The one-month virtual programme is scheduled to start on September 1, 2025.
