Director-General, World Trade Organisation , Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stressed the importance of trade in supporting women-led small businesses in addressing climate change and fostering innovation.
Outlining some gender-biased misconceptions, such as the belief that women are less suitable for entrepreneurship and lack skills and the ability to innovate, she said we must correct these thoughts and assertions by creating and making available to women-led trade enterprises, the tools they need and appropriate responses, particularly regarding digital applications and trade finance.
At another panel consisting of entrepreneurs, they shared the challenges that women-led small businesses face when trying to integrate environmental and social considerations into their business activities and proposed changes that could help overcome these challenges. In the last few weeks, the cost of diesel has shot up significantly, complicating the already high operating cost of manufacturing and leaving industrialists in panic. With naira also losing its value by the day while electricity supply remains unstable, there is fear that manufacturing companies will continue to close shops in the coming months…
A French development finance institution , Proparco, said it has committed $1 billion across the critical sectors in Nigeria. Marking 15 years of operations in the country, Proparco has worked with local and pan-African financial institutions, investment funds managers, growth stage companies as well as start-ups in renewable energy, agribusiness and tech space, providing loans…