Foundation plans business funding for women

As part of measures to stem the challenge of lack of funding among small scale business women, the African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) has unveiled a program to assist such businesses to access funding.

AWEP noted that it realised that the funds are available but that many times some business women lack the information to access them as they get weary of filling forms or other bureaucracies that stall their progress.

AWEP’s National President, Mrs. Angela Ajala, told newsmen yesterday in Abuja that the upcoming annual general meeting of the organisation holding in Abuja would address issues that bother on accessing funds for the small medium entrepreneurs (SMEs).

She said the Nigerian chapter of the organisation established in 2010 and inaugurated in 2013 was set up by the US Department of State to help women in the nonoil sector to fulfil the Africa Growth and Opportunities ACT (AGOA).

She explained that the vision of AWEP in Nigeria “Is to position women businesses across global borders and platforms and we do this by building a network of highly skilled business women by providing them valuable information, give them access to finance, access to market, access to opportunities that can scale up their businesses in domestic market, regional and international market,” she said.

Also speaking, chairman of the local organizing committee AWEP 2019 AGM, Mrs. Emilia Csaszar said that this year’s theme: “Positioning for Funding” was carefully chosen so that women will know how to position their business properly to enable them access the funds for their businesses.

According to Csaszar, although the business world is male dominated, women are more able to sustain their businesses in a long term if they are given the right platform and if they are properly guided.