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admin By Oyebola Owolabi
The Association of Nigeria Women Business Network (ANWBN) has restated its commitment to ensuring that women get the recognition they deserve and the opportunity to thrive.
This, it intends to achieve by empowering women to leverage on emerging trends in the business landscape, especially in skilling up to gain better advantage.
National Coordinator of the ANWBN, Otunba Gbemisola Oduntan, stated this at the association’s 2024 summit, themed Future-ready Entrepreneurs: Skill up to Scale up’.
According to her, it is important for women to become better at whatever they do so they can get a seat at the table, and also empowered to bargain better.
Mrs. Oduntan noted that it was important for women to be involved in decision making as such impacts them, whether positively or otherwise.
She said: “We have looked at ourselves and decided we need to do more for ourselves if we want to be at the table with the men. We decided that we need to have the set skills to scale up our businesses so that we can be at the right place at the right time, and be able to take up all the opportunities that are available for us.
“This is what we have done at this conference. We have spoken to ourselves on how to scale up. We have taught ourselves how to get to the next level so we can achieve more than what we are doing at the moment, and so we can take up opportunities from the government and from the environment around us.
“We want to be a voice to be reckoned with when decisions are being taken concerning us. We want to be empowered to speak up and get better. We want to shatter the ceilings. We want to be at the forefront of what is happening in the country, and for us to achieve all these, we must improve ourselves in every way. That is the essence of this summit. Beside, our anchor is ‘We work together to walk far’, so I am confident that women are have been encouraged and emboldened to reach for greater and better things to come.”
Outgoing National Coordinator Mrs. Angela Ajala said the annual summit is to examine current realities and challenges which every woman, whether high or low, grapple with, and evolve workable solutions to make them better.
She noted that women must first get the requisite skills needed to shine in whatever field, and so they become empowered to lead.
“The ANWBN is a coalition of over 75 female only associations. Once a year, we bring all our members together to hear the latest in business, advocacy, and issues that generally affect women, and garner support from relevant stakeholders to beat those challenges.
“We work with the women business national agenda, and conduct evidence-based research to see what similar challenges that all women, whether high or low, face. The outcomes include access to finance, multiple taxation, infrastructure, roads, power, insecurity, and these issues challenge any woman and business.
“That is why we have come together to engage critical stakeholders in those areas to see how can we make things easier for women to thrive better in the society.
“After COVID-19 especially, we discovered that things changed, the business landscape changed as the world went digital. So we began to look at how women can sell without physical shops.
“Thus, our annual summit will always examine where we are and help us forge a way to the next level so we can thrive and prosper in all ramifications.
“Particularly, we urge members to skill up so they can scale up their businesses. Having a structured business and keeping proper records of finances is very important, so we must get back to the drawing board to do the right things because there are certain interventions that have been put in place which we cannot access without a properly structured business. Investors are all over the place but they won’t invest in a business that lacks structure. There is money out there if we do the right thing.
“We want to tell every woman out there to skill up. Learning is a life-long process if we must grow. If you don’t improve, the train will leave you behind, so skill up to scale up,” she added.
Wife of the Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun, noted that women need skills to not only survive, but thrive in a fast changing world.
“Continuous learning is not restricted to the classrooms, so we must continue to empower women to succeed and thrive. Much has been done but more needs to be done because the knowledge of yesterday is no longer relevant today.
“That is why summits such as this are needed to be a continuous reminder that while we celebrate the milestones of progress, there is still more to be done because of evolving challenges.
“Today, we face a reality where the skills we learned yesterday are no longer sufficient. The world around us is changing at a pace that demands adaptability and lifelong learning. Today, we find ourselves at a crossroads where technology, social media, and the complex world of finance have opened up immense opportunities, but they have also introduced new challenges. Many women are struggling to keep up with these rapid changes. The digital economy, for instance, has redefined how we do business, and yet many women still face barriers to accessing the internet, understanding the complexities of e-commerce, or navigating the world of online marketing.
“Not everyone will have the opportunity to attend a traditional university or obtain formal education. But we must remember that continuous learning is not confined to the four walls of a school. We can all benefit from training—whether formal or informal—and it is crucial that we ensure that such learning opportunities are available to women at every stage of life. As entrepreneurs, we must keep sharpening our skills, staying ahead of trends, and adapting to new realities. It is this spirit of constant growth that will make us truly future-ready.”
Chairperson of the Summit Committee Mrs. Hansatu Adegbite stressed the need for continuous learning because ‘what we have now is not enough to sustain us for the future’.
To be future-ready, Mrs. Hansatu said entrepreneurs must be adaptable, have technical agility, form like-minded alliances, embrace innovation and be consistent.
The summit also featured exhibitions, training workshops, and AGM where Mrs. Oduntan was elected the new national others.
As part of efforts to develop members, the association will be opening information hubs across major markets in Nigeria to provide relevant and timely information to market men and women on the evolving business landscape, developing an e-Commerce platform to accommodate over 50,000 businesses for greater feasibility, embark on capacity training for members, among others.
