Nigerian Women Repay Loans Than Men – New Report

Women in Nigeria are more likely to repay loans taken from any source than their male counterparts.

While 34% of Nigerian women want to own or expand their businesses, a new report has revealed.

The report produced by Gates Foundation contains the findings of a comprehensive survey of 100,000 Nigerian women.

It shed light on women’s economic ambitions and the challenges they face.

According to the report, 62% of the women surveyed identified lack of capital as biggest obstacle followed by lack of time and low profit margin.

While 15% of them said that lack of training and sponsorship is the third challenge they face.

However, 6% others argued that power discrimination and insecurity are their biggest obstacles.

For women in agriculture, their biggest obstacle is lack of access to land due to cultural practices.

The top three areas of interest for 15% of Nigerian women are agriculture, fashion and food.

The report indicates that removing economic barriers will unlock the potentials of Nigeria women and drive growth.

The report also found that approximately 90% of businesses in the informal economy make less than N500,000 monthly profit.

While Nigeria is home to approximately 40 million MSMEs, though almost 90% are in the informal economy.

According to the report, women account for 37.1% of people in Nigeria’s informal economy.

It reveals that more than half of the informal economy population is less than 34 years old.

Retail and General trade, alongside Food and Drinks account for over half of the value of Nigeria’s informal economy, followed by food and drinks.

Less than 1% of the total approved national budget of 2023 was allocated to Women Economic Empowerment, (WEE) and associated projects.

The findings of this survey are an urgent call to action for start-up capital and equipment to be provided to Nigerian women.

This will enable them to achieve their economic aspirations.