The lives and businesses of 200 rural women entrepreneurs in Kano and Cross River states are set to receive a boost as the MTN Foundation and UN Women deepen their partnership to expand economic opportunities for women in Nigeria.
The two organisations formally announced the partnership on Friday in Lagos during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the programme designed to strengthen the capacity of rural women through skills development, financial inclusion, market access and processing hubs.
The initiative will be implemented through the MTN Foundation’s Y’elloPreneur programme, which seeks to address some of the major challenges limiting the growth of female-owned businesses, particularly inadequate access to training, funding and markets.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, MTN Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Odunayo Sanya, said women currently account for 43.7 per cent of the foundation’s beneficiaries, reflecting its commitment to gender inclusion across its programmes.
Sanya disclosed that the foundation had previously supported 122 women entrepreneurs with N304 million, while the wider Y’elloPreneur initiative has strengthened the capacity of more than 6,000 female entrepreneurs.
She said the 200 new beneficiaries would receive entrepreneurship training at the Enterprise Development Centre, after which they would develop business proposals and have opportunities to secure funding for viable enterprises.
Sanya also disclosed that the foundation is targeting equal participation of men and women in the Y’elloPreneur initiative, with an objective of achieving 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female participation by 2030.
UN Women Country Representative, Beatrice Eyong, said the partnership would provide rural women with greater opportunities to access and use digital tools while becoming more active participants in Nigeria’s expanding digital economy.
She warned that inadequate access to digital opportunities could continue to exclude rural women from emerging areas of economic activity, stressing the importance of digital inclusion in creating sustainable economic opportunities.
Kano and Cross River were selected for the programme because of their strong agricultural activities, particularly in rice and cassava production. Women operating within these sectors are expected to receive support that will help improve value addition, productivity, market access and livelihoods.
For the beneficiaries, the initiative represents more than entrepreneurship training or financial support. It is an opportunity to gain the skills, digital access, funding opportunities and market connections needed to strengthen their businesses and build more sustainable sources of income.
The partnership underscores the growing importance of empowering rural women as entrepreneurs and economic participants, while highlighting how access to finance, digital tools, skills and markets can help women overcome barriers to business growth and contribute more meaningfully to Nigeria’s economy.
