Omolabake Fasogbon
Alitheia Capital has urged a coordinated effort to bridge funding gap limiting the growth of women-led businesses in Nigeria.
This was reiterated at the third edition of W.O.M.A.N. (Women in Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Nutrition), Alitheia Capital’s annual conference, which brought together over 300 screened women-led businesses, alongside investors, policymakers and development partners to chart a path on capital, energy, artificial intelligence and markets for business resilience.
Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Alitheia Capital, Tokunboh Ishmael said many women-led businesses with growth potential remain excluded from financing, adding that most businesses present at the conference had never accessed formal capital.
She explained that affected businesses do not lack ambition, but that the problem lies in design.
“Over three hundred screened, revenue-generating businesses came together for Alitheia’s national gathering. Each were assessed against a revenue threshold and formalisation status which they demonstrated growth potential but majority have never accessed formal capital,” she stated.
Acknowledging finance constraint, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Abisola Olusanya declared that winning this obstacle requires the hands of government, financial institutions, private equity and entrepreneurs to be on deck collectively.
Delivering the keynote address on ‘From Survival to Scale: Building Investment-Ready Women-Led Enterprises in Nigeria’s Real Economy’, Co-Founder of WIMBIZ and Founder and CEO of DO.II Designs Limited, Ifeyinwa Ighodalo tasked participants on financial discipline to tap investment opportunities.
“Financial discipline creates business legibility; business legibility creates credibility, and credibility creates access to capital and opportunities for growth,” she said.
Co-Founder of Alitheia Capital, Jumoke Akinwunmi remarked that the businesses represented at the conference demonstrated that challenge goes beyond entrepreneurial readiness.