The Federal Government has identified improved access to capital for women-led businesses as a critical pathway to unlocking Nigeria’s industrial growth and maximising opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
This position was made known by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, during a high-level policy dialogue organised to commemorate International Women’s Day on Friday in Abuja.
The minister disclosed that women-owned businesses across Africa currently face a financing gap estimated at more than $49bn, a shortfall that continues to limit their ability to expand and compete in continental markets.
The event, themed “Give to Gain,” brought together policymakers, investors, development partners and private sector leaders to examine how expanding financing opportunities for women entrepreneurs could accelerate Nigeria’s participation in Africa’s rapidly integrating trade market.
Speaking at the gathering, Oduwole said Nigeria could not realistically achieve its ambition of building a $1tn economy by 2030 without fully unlocking the productive capacity of women-led enterprises.
According to her, women already play a major role across several sectors of the economy, including agriculture, trade, services, manufacturing and logistics, but remain significantly constrained by limited access to capital.
She noted that Nigeria’s economic expansion and Africa’s broader integration would depend largely on how effectively businesses could scale across borders within the AfCFTA framework.
Oduwole explained that the continental trade pact connects 1.4 billion people with a combined Gross Domestic Product of about $3.4tn, making it one of the largest integrated markets in the world.
The minister said, “This year’s International Women’s Day theme, Give to Gain, reflects a fundamental principle that underpins economic growth.
“Nigeria is building a $1tn economy by 2030, anchored on stronger industrial capacity, expanded exports, and deeper integration into regional and global markets. No country can realistically reach that level of economic scale while leaving half its entrepreneurial talent and productive capacity undercapitalised.
“So this is a conversation about money. Ensuring that women-led firms can access the capital required to grow, therefore strengthens the very foundations of Nigeria’s economic expanse. Across Africa, women are active participants across trade, services, agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, and more.
“And the constraint is therefore not participation, it is capital. How it is structured and how it is allocated. Last year, female-founded companies received less than 10 per cent of venture and growth capital deployed across Africa, while the estimated financing gap for women-owned businesses exceeds $49bn.
“When leaders give opportunity, when investors provide capital, and when institutions expand market access, the gains multiply across entire economies and prosperity is created for millions of people.
“The AfCFTA links over 1.4 billion people into a single market valued at approximately $3.4tn. But the scale of its economic impact will ultimately depend on businesses, on those of us who must operationalise these opportunities and move confidently into those markets.”
The minister observed that despite the size of Africa’s market and the vast number of businesses operating across the continent, only a very small number of firms have been able to reach a global competitive scale.
Oduwole said, “Across the entire African continent, there are only about 345 companies generating more than $1bn in annual revenue, and roughly 20 of those are in Nigeria.
“For a continent with more than 200 million businesses, this number clearly shows how much room there is to grow a space of global competitiveness.”
She stressed that achieving such a scale would require unlocking the full productive capacity of African economies, particularly women entrepreneurs who already dominate large segments of informal and cross-border trade.
The minister noted that despite their economic contributions, female-founded companies receive less than 10 per cent of venture and growth capital deployed across Africa.
“No country can realistically reach the level of economic scale we are targeting while leaving half of its entrepreneurial talent and productive capacity undercapitalised.
“This conversation is therefore fundamentally about capital, how it is structured, how it is allocated and how it reaches the businesses that can grow and create jobs.
“That gap matters greatly in the era of AfCFTA. Because access to capital will determine which firms expand across borders, which value chains deepen and ultimately which economies capture the benefits of continental trade,” She noted.
Oduwole explained that African governments had already begun to address this imbalance through new trade frameworks under AfCFTA designed to improve access to markets and finance for women and young entrepreneurs.
She highlighted the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade and the Protocol on Digital Trade as two landmark instruments aimed at strengthening inclusion in Africa’s emerging trade architecture.
She said, “These are forward-looking and truly revolutionary protocols. The Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade is specifically designed to expand access to markets, improve financing opportunities and support the growth of women-owned businesses across the continent.”
According to her, Nigeria is already taking steps to domesticate and implement the protocol through programmes that prepare women-owned enterprises to access capital and participate in international trade.
She revealed that the initiative was partly inspired by a request from the Minister of Women Affairs, who sought stronger institutional collaboration to improve financing opportunities for female entrepreneurs.
“The Minister of Women Affairs approached me and asked how we could support women in accessing finance. I promised that we would take it up and design a programme that speaks directly to preparing businesses for capital access, because ultimately that is the end goal,” Oduwole noted.
The minister added that the programme launched during the event was designed to ensure that opportunities created under AfCFTA translate into tangible and equitable economic growth across Africa.
She also pointed to recent macroeconomic indicators suggesting that Nigeria’s ongoing economic reforms were beginning to attract investment and support trade expansion.
According to her, Nigeria recorded $21bn in capital importation within the first 10 months of 2025, while non-oil exports exceeded $6.1bn during the same period.
Oduwole listed several strategic initiatives being pursued by the government to expand Nigeria’s global trade footprint, including the U.S.-Nigeria Commercial and Investment Partnership, the U.K.-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership, and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
She explained that these agreements were designed to expand market access, attract foreign investment and connect Nigerian businesses, particularly women-led enterprises, to global value chains.
“These reforms are laying the foundation for capital to flow and for trade to thrive. At the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, we are complementing continental integration with deliberate bilateral and global economic partnerships. Our priority this year is very clear. We want to connect global and regional demand with Nigeria’s supply capacity and the capital required to scale it,” she said.
This, she noted, would involve expanding long-term industrial financing, strengthening value chain processing, improving export readiness and ensuring that Nigerian companies are positioned to compete across the continent.
Oduwole also disclosed that Nigeria would play an active role in shaping Africa’s collective trade agenda ahead of the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation scheduled to hold in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
She said the engagement would allow African countries to coordinate positions and strengthen their influence in global trade negotiations.
“In closing, the AfCFTA has created a remarkable opportunity for Nigerian and African businesses to grow across borders. The real question now is how we mobilise and structure the capital required to support that expansion at the scale and speed required,” she added.
In her remarks, the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, stressed that fully harnessing AfCFTA opportunities requires integrating gender-responsive policies into national trade frameworks.
She highlighted the need for simplified business registration processes, improved documentation systems and more inclusive trade procedures that allow women entrepreneurs to formalise and scale their businesses.
“We must remove the barriers that limit women’s participation in trade and enterprise,” she said. “Empowering women economically is not only a question of fairness; it is a strategic investment in Nigeria’s prosperity.”
The Minister also announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment aimed at expanding access to finance for export-ready women entrepreneurs and strengthening their participation in continental trade.
The partnership will support initiatives such as export readiness training, improved digital trade capacity and the development of a national database of women-owned enterprises.
Also speaking at the event, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, commended the Ministry for creating a strategic platform that highlights the central role of women in economic development and Nigeria’s intra-African trade ambitions.
“Across the continent, women continue to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and enterprise development,” she said. “Their full participation will be critical to the success of AfCFTA and to Nigeria’s broader economic transformation.”
Earlier, in a welcome address delivered on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Amb. Nura Abba Rimi, the Director of Investment Promotion, Mrs. Gertrude Orji, described the colloquium as a timely engagement designed to strengthen collaboration among government institutions, investors and private sector stakeholders.
She noted that empowering women-led enterprises through innovative financing mechanisms and strategic partnerships will be essential for expanding Nigeria’s non-oil exports and strengthening the country’s competitiveness within Africa’s integrated market.
“Our objective is clear,” she said. “By supporting women entrepreneurs with access to finance, markets and policy support, Nigeria can unlock new levels of economic growth while building stronger value chains across the continent.”
The colloquium concluded with a renewed commitment from policymakers, development partners and private sector leaders to translate the discussions into concrete policies, programmes and partnerships that will accelerate industrialisation, expand market access and empower Nigerian women-owned enterprises to thrive within the AfCFTA framework.
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