Edeh: Access to Funding, Markets Remain Barriers to Female-owned Businesses

There are two things that women face. One of them is access to funding. There are some who have the right skill, there are some who have the right knowledge, but they don’t have the available tools they need to bring this out. There are a good number of girls who know how to sew.  There are a good number of girls who have gone to fashion schools and all that. But when it’s now time for them to start up, you realise that they don’t even really have what it takes to start buying the necessary materials or machines and equipment for sewing . But one of the issues that women face is access to funding for startups. Secondly, it  is market access. A good number of people still have that challenge as to how to market their products, how to put their products out there, you know, the right target audience. So I believe that there are a good number of firms and institutions trying to do so well with teaching them this thing. But I think it has to be simplified, it has to be practicalised so that our women become better informed as to how to reach out to their target audience, break into the market, and do every necessary thing that they needed to do.

What inspired you to start The Gutsy Women Network and how does your own educational journey tie into its creation?

For me, I would always say that it was just divine intervention, working in my purpose. I got married and then I moved into a city where I had no relationship with anyone prior to that time. I was starting life afresh and so at some point, I wanted to be part of a community where I could see those who would nudge me in the right direction and mentor me. But at that time, I couldn’t find exactly what it was I was looking for. There were social clubs and every other thing in the city of Enugu, but I didn’t see anything that was tied to my needs. So what I did was that I started my own community. It was a WhatsApp platform where we would talk, we had webinars and other activities just to help us stay in touch and help us grow. But I never took it serious, like something really professional. To me, it was just something I was doing on the side, so to say. But after I lost my dad in 2021, I was sad, I was down because my dad was everything. So, d I wanted to pour in all that energy into something else that I love. For some reason, my organisation just came to mind. So I started planning to have our first physical meeting, and a good number of them happened that year, though they were not elaborate, but they were physical events that we did. My target audience was mainly young married mothers like me. And my idea was just to ensure that we come together and nudge each other.  But for some reason, while you are growing in the process,  I realised that there is so much more that we could do and achieve. You know, Enugu is a place that was becoming really big with people coming into the city and then we saw what we love in other cities. And for  logistical issues, you are  constrained to attend those conferences and every other activities. And then I was like, we can do more. Which was why we started the conference and every other activity in between. My educational journey had no relationship with what I was doing. It was just pure passion and all.  So it has always been God’s divine calling and God’s purpose for me. But it’s not shocking to me or every other person around me because I have always loved bringing people together.

What does the name ‘Gutsy Women’ mean to you in the context of learning and personal growth?

So a gutsy woman is a powerful woman, a woman who is determined, bold, courageous and fearless. She is a woman who is not scared to do everything that is necessary for her to excel in life. But here is the thing, as at the time when we called our organisation the Gutsy Women Network, to me it was just a very beautiful name. And it’s a name that explains what we need our women to become and how we want to see our women. But I have not really felt it. You know, when you want to give a name to a child or something, for most people, they will say, ‘oh, I went through stress during this level.

 For that reason, I called the child this name’. Someone might have felt something that would not inspire them to name their child, their business, their products, whichever. But for me, it was just a beautiful name. But then, during the course of this, I faced certain challenges.  What our organisation stands for, which is what people see in you and they’re like, you look too young. I have been called ‘small girl with big God’. I’ have been called ‘small girl with grace.’ So God has been faithful. God’s grace has stood by me. So it got to a point where I now had to embody the name, God.  I reminded myself that I needed to know what this name stands for.  So it became my affirmation.

 What long-term change do you hope your initiative will achieve for women and communities?

Firstly, I would think the most important thing is we want every woman to become confident in herself and in her ability. We want every woman to trash the label, own her identity with pride and become the lead actress in her story, write her story herself, and begin to tell her story herself. Do not let society stereotype you. Do not let society define you. Do not let society put you in a box. There is so much more that you can do. There is so much more that you can bring to life without having to depend on other people to see the good in your life. We are hoping that we will truly instill in every woman what it means to be Gutsy.

 How does your Skills Fest initiative contribute to empowering women, especially in today’s economy?

Our Skill Fest initiative is one where we provide our women with the necessary skill that they need to help contribute to their life, family, and society at large. We provide them with the necessary skill, we provide them with mentorship, the necessary knowledge and instructions that they need to navigate their life to also become a better version of themselves. So the best way to combat issues that women face, such as  domestic or financial abuse, is by providing them with financial freedom and the tools that they need to make better use of themselves. When we talk about people making better use of themselves, it’s not just about the financial freedom that comes with it, it is the fact that their mind becomes busy, they think differently. They have a mindset shift.  They have different perspectives when it comes to certain things, which enables them begin to handle it better than they would have before. So when you empower a woman economically, you’re not just empowering her, you’re empowering a society. So we’ve thought about this deeply and thoroughly, and say, you know what, outside every mentorship and every other program we do, there is a need to have a high-impact project. The project that we do that could help our women become the better version of themselves is by igniting innovation and helping them see those things that they are not seeing even in themselves. There are a lot of women who have been given access to our training and our skill acquisition program. At the end of the day, they are already making better use of the skills that they learned. So, our skill fest project has provided means for women to make ends meet, begin to earn money, and do a good number of things. And we are thinking of enhancing it. We’re thinking of adding more skills. We’re thinking of opening more rooms or more platforms for mentorship. It’s not just get to women alone, even the girl child. During our International Day of the Girl Child, we do something called igniting innovation, where we go to schools and encourage our girls to become creative. What can you do? Let’s see what you can do. And during our last event, I remember that a good number of girls, some painted, some knitted bags, some made beads, and all sorts of items that they made. So when our speakers and special guests saw what the girls had done, most of them started buying those products. And it gave the sort of joy that they saw value in.

 What are your plans for expanding or scaling the impact of Gutsy Women Network and Skills Fest Initiative?

Currently, we are working towards getting partners and sponsors. We are working with organisatins,  agencies, and people who can help us achieve or do the necessary things in order for us to impact a good number of women. This is not what the Gutsy Woman Network can do alone. There are a good number of women who need to be impacted. There are a good number of women who need access to information and opportunities. So we are working towards trying to see how we can work with these organisations and agencies to get access to the right funding and opportunities for our women.

Can you walk us through some of your core programmes or activities that promote collaboration opportunities for women?

For us at Gutsy, everything we do is about promoting collaboration, even as a team.  For everything we do, collaboration is tied to it. Bridging the gap between women is tied to it. Even for our team members, there are activities that we want to do that give access to some sort of bonding. It mustn’t be friendship, but it can be work or a relationship, whichever the case may be. But on a larger scale, our conference,  Skill Fest program, and most of our activities, what we do, is aimed at giving women that platform to work together and learn together as much as possible, and create a relationship that would be better for them.  We have seen that play out a good number of times after our conference. We have seen people who begin to form bonds to work together. A popular actress once told me that someone told her she got a business opportunity because she came for our 2024 conference. So you can imagine how many more stories we have like that. But for everything that we do, it’s geared towards bridging that gap and building a platform for women to collaborate. I believe strongly in the fact that when women work together, they can achieve greater things. During the early days of my career,  I heard things like, oh, you’re trying to do women things! But for me, it has been the opposite of it.  I’m not saying that it has been rosy, but I have had a good number of women support our organisation,  initiative and  everything that we have been able to do. Just like I said, we’ve exemplified what it truly means for women to collaborate. We bring in people from politics, leadership, business and education sector . To the glory of God, we have seen how these have played out and we intend to do more.

During our last conference, we produced a documentary titled ‘Desert Flower’,  to talk about the inspiring stories and journeys of women and how they have been able to achieve everything that they have. And then we had the launch on July 19, 2025, at the Base Event Center, Enugu, where we had a good number of dignitaries and people who came from far and near to be with us. We had the likes of actress Patience Ozokwo, Rachel Okonkwo, Ms. Hansatu Adegbite , a UN women consultant, the First Lady of Enugu State, Mrs. Ikechinyere MBA. We also had Dr. Ibenako, who is the Enugu North Local Government Chairman of Enugu State, we had Hon. Samuel Annie, who who is the majority leader in Enugu House of Assembly,   representatives of NAPTIP and  Civil Defense, Hon.  Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Dame Ugochi Madueke and a good number of dignitaries, you know, government aides and those in the educational sector.to see the premiere of our documentary. What we intend to do is to have the screen in major cities by God’s grace