The Federal Government on Wednesday made to banks to set up gender desks in order identify and prioritise potential female borrowers.
The government while describing women as drivers of the African economy, said that more women needed to be stimulated to go into technically oriented fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Maryam Katagum, represented by the Director of Commodity and Export Department, Suleiman Audu, said these during the second series of African Women Trade Conference 2022 organised by Organization of Women in International Trade, in partnership with other OWIT African countries with the theme, ‘Positioning African women for the next big opportunity in the regional and global marketplace’.
This, according to her will position and enable women to trade and benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area.
She said they are, “Preparation for gender inclusion in national AfCFTA strategies and policies. Companies have to invest in women directly by integrating gender policies and practices with global diversity: Women’s personal safety when determining working conditions and hours.
“Banks should set up gender desks with a view to go the extra mile in identifying and prioritising targets of potential women borrowers as a platform for ascertaining and providing financial empowerment from African Development Bank to support women-led farmers based associations and MSMEs to promote agriculture in certain African countries.
“Greater efforts need to be made to provide women with access to technical education and on-the-job training. Targeted entrepreneurship training can help women entrepreneurs grasp the opportunities that open markets create and calibrate their businesses toward those opportunities through creativity and innovation.”
She believed that women have to be able to pioneer inclusive scientific advances and influence commercial trends.
She urged all Africans, regardless of origin, to work together and be gender aware when implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area if it is to achieve its intended aim.
The minister said, “With the launch of trading under the AfCFTA in January 2021, the expectations are high as relates to the expanded business prospects for women-led businesses, which will unlock the potential for African women to grow their businesses from micro to macro enterprises.”
