By Chinenye Anuforo
MTN Nigeria Foundation has disclosed that it will invest N600 million in the second phase of its Y’ellopreneur initiative, as part of the company’s effort to empower women and reduce female unemployment in Nigeria.
The MTN Y’ellopreneur Initiative seeks to advance women development in ‘Entrepreneurship’ through capacity-building and access to loans, grants and advisory support services for long-term business sustainability.
The initiative targets female entrepreneurs across the country who display passion and commitment to self-employment and run an existing business of two years and above in the areas of circular economy, manufacturing, processing, agriculture, ICT/digital services, waste management, etc. The focus is on businesses that source their raw materials locally.
The executive director, MTN Nigeria Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, at the launch of the second phase of the Yellopreneur initiative yesterday in Lagos, said gender inequality was a major cause of hunger and poverty.
To reduce female unemployment in Nigeria, Sanya argued that continued involvement of women in entrepreneurship and business management will help to provide income for their family/home keeping, adding that this will obviously contribute to the social-economic development of Nigeria.
Speaking on the Y’ellopreneur initiative, the executive director said that the initiative was put in place to contribute to bridging the entrepreneurship skills gap and enhance women self-employment which align with the federal government’s development agenda and helping to achieve the SFGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 17.
She disclosed that the first phase of Y’ellopreneur initiative was able to empower 4,711 female entrepreneurs in partnership with EDC and Mastercard Foundation; held business pitch session for 200 businesses and 101 viable businesses recommended and equipment loan of over N94 million disbursed to 50 Y’ellopreneurs with 25 per cent of loan value refunded as grant upon full repayment.
On what to expect in the second phase of the initiative, Sanya said that the initiative will administer 5-week online entrepreneurial skills and masterclass training for 1,000 female entrepreneurs, adding that, “MTN is investing N600 million in the second phase of the initiative, the sum of N450 million is available for 150 qualified Y’ellopreneurs to access as equipment loans and upon full repayment of the loan, the sum of N112,500,000, would be refunded as grants to the Y’ellopreneurs.
In her remarks, the Lagos state commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Bolaji Dada, applauded the Y’ellopreneur initiative, describing it as a means to tackle women unemployment and poverty in the state. “I am using this medium to appeal to female entrepreneurs to apply for the second phase of the initiative,” she added.
On her own part, Mrs Aishatu Sadauki, a Director at MTN Nigeria Foundation explained that women constitute 50 per cent of the Nigerian population, yet only about 35 per cent of them are involved in entrepreneurship in the form of Micro, Small, Medium and Large enterprises. “In 2020, only 47 per cent of the working age women, participated in the labour market, compared to 74 per cent men, a gender gap that has remained since 1995,” she added.
She asserted that the empowerment of women has been identify as a significant steps to social-economic development. “Understanding the need to support female entrepreneurs and provide them some of the resources that will enable them thrive in their businesses, was what gave birth to the Y’ellopreneur Initiative, an initiative aimed at reducing female unemployment and advance women development through training, designed to enhance their entrepreneurial skills”.