At Female Founder’s Lounge, Women Seek Empowerment, Share Business Insights
IN a bid to promote idea sharing and wealth creation among women, female figures achieving milestones in private and public sectors recently gathered at the Female Founders Lounge to discuss ways to enhance women empowerment.
At the event organised by the founder, Female Techpreneur, Bukky Babajide and the Founder of the Experience Plug Systems, Tobi Olanihun, key ways of starting and successfully running women- owned businesses were thoroughly discussed with strong emphasis on value creation and finance sourcing.
Lawyer and founder of the BBQ Solicitors, Bukki Ogunsakin, revealed that when sourcing for funding to set up a business, it is important to note that several organisations within and across borders are willing to assist.
“There is a lot of funding available and we have organisations even outside Nigeria that want to help and are interested in Africa because they see value in us. We all need to be well positioned and you need to make sure that your business is viral before you can invite someone.
“Also, you don’t have to see the investors; you just have to use what you have first. So, friends and families should be your first option. You have to think deeply about your operating mode if you are going into social enterprise so it is better impactful,” she said. In her remarks, Head of Customer Finance at Piggytech, Ibukun Akinola, stated that her career in fintech was spurred by her desire to help businesses in need to secure funding and also to provide proper financial enlightenment.
“For me, I went into fintech, and that got me on a journey of connecting those who have with those who needed funding. I am also a certified banking educator; I was doing a lot of educating on balancing, investing and sharing information with investors. All of that brought me into tech, and then we connected to developers and started working,” she said.
For Managing Director, VFD Microfinance Bank, Gbenga Omolokun, it is important to have the right amount of competition to spur continuous improvements.
“I often feel that competition is actually very important. And competition is actually what I do too, because if you are the only one, something is going to come and slap you down but when there’s competition, you are forced to step up. Banking is a serious business and I think a lot of people don’t realise,” he said.
He added that when sourcing for the finances to fund a business idea, it is important to have clearly defined goals and objectives.
“I think money is the simplest issue to address because all you need to do is find an investor. Some banks are set up to facilitate transactions or to operate for a specific need, while some banks want credit. It’s all about knowing your key interests and what you want to achieve in the bank. It’s not difficult actually; you need to be sure of what you want to do and you need to mean serious business.”