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By Chinenye Anuforo, [email protected]
Maryanne Aondoakaa is among the teeming population of women who braved the odds and vied into the tough terrain of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. She delved into shoe manufacturing and positioned her brand, Fellam’s Collections, with a focus on carving a niche in making quality shoes for ‘primary and secondary school’ students.
After her university education in 2019, Aondoakaa remained devoted to her dreams and passion to grow her company to be the best school shoe maker on the lips of parents. However, her brand suffered the devastating effects of the COVID-19 lockdown that crippled many world economies.
Many local businesses collapsed under the brutal recession that happened in Nigeria. Also for Aondoakaa, her business ground to a halt, sales dwindled drastically, and her capital diminished.
After the COVID-19 lockdown, Aondoakaa confronted other business challenges like gender biases and limited funds to resuscitate her brand. She also lacked in-depth financial management skills to keep accurate financial records and make practical decisions to salvage her business during the tough business season.
Faced with these challenges, she was under huge pressure to shut her company and allow her fledging brand to die.
Like Aondoakaa, millions of Nigerian women face and are still facing these situations, struggling to keep their businesses afloat in the shark-infested waters of entrepreneurship.
However, these challenges have limited the development of the Nigerian economy, considering the fact that women constitute about 50 per cent of total population.
There is also the need to emphasize the fact that contribution of women is essential in economic activities of any country. To support this claim, a research by the Harvard Business Review found out that women outscore men in most leadership skills. Women scored higher than men in key skills such as team working, innovation and problem-solving.
This research bears testament to the immense potential of women when given a more level playing field, such as mentoring, capacity building and access to credit, as well as their inherent leadership skills critical to success in entrepreneurship.
Changing the narrative
In recent times, government and private organisations have started implementing various initiatives to address these challenges and support female entrepreneurs in the areas of business training, development, advisory and access to funds. To this end, MTN Foundation in 2022 launched the Yellopreneur, an initiative designed to help women achieve their entrepreneurial ambitions through training, funding and mentorship.
First phase of the Yellopreneur
The first phase of the program was launched in partnership with the Bank of Industry, and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) with research carried out by the Foundation to ascertain why most grant initiatives fail, the team designed Yellopreneur to engage women using capacity-building sessions that will accommodate 500 women.
At the media launch event, Director, MTN Foundation, Dr. Mosun Belo-Olusoga, highlighted the impact the Yellopreneur initiative will have on women-owned businesses in Nigeria.
“This is a cause I am particularly passionate about, and I am gratified that MTN is demonstrating its continued commitment to supporting women development through the implementation of the Yellopreneur initiative. The initiative will contribute to reductions in female unemployment and advance our development through training designed to enhance the entrepreneurial abilities of the 500 women, she said.
Speaking on the selection of the Yellopreneur participants, Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya said, “We were particular about the types of business that we wanted to fund. For us, it was about the real economy, and today we are training women across a range of businesses including; manufacturing, processing, ICT, agriculture, waste management and recycling.”
“It was also important that we had applications from women across Nigeria and we currently have women across the country who are part of the selected participants”, she said.
Also speaking at the event, Divisional Head, SME South, Bank of Industry, Obaro Osah said, “We understand that women are the backbone of entrepreneurship in Nigeria, and that is one of the reasons the Bank of Industry has put several initiatives in place to support women-led businesses at the same time helping them scale their business. We are excited to partner with the MTN Foundation on this initiative.
The pitch
Out of the 500 women, a final 150 who scale through with outstanding business plans will have access to an equipment loan of up to N2 million at a fixed interest rate of 2.5 per cent over 36 months. In addition, they will have access to advisory and business support services.
In February this year, after passing the first phase of the programme, 200 out of the 500 women who participated at the first stage, were selected to pitch their businesses.
Among them were, Maryann Aondoakaa, the CEO Fellams Collection whose story was told at the beginning of this report. She told this reporter that, she was honored to be among the 200 women who were picked stating that the Yellopreneur programme has been very impactful to her.
“The basic part of this initiative was the training for me. I got to learn how to scale my business, how to improve my operations positively and all I need to take my business to the next level.”
She said with what she learnt from the training, she would leverage social media for brand promotion, awareness and advertisements because the world has gone digital and a whole lot of people are on social media, and it’s just the easiest way to connect with people. “So, I want to leverage them to boost my business.”
For the founder, OMR Agro Ventures, Omolere Tosin, the Yellopreneur initiative is an eye opener for her. “Participating in the programme has opened my eye to many things which I took for granted. For example, I have learnt a lot about book keeping and it is helping me now. Because, keeping proper records is key to successful business.”
She said that, if chosen for the equipment loan, she will use the money to expand her business beyond her locality. Omolere also want to use her business to reduce women unemployment as she intends to employ other women to into the business.
Corroborating, the CEO of Bimeli Events, Abimbola Olukosi and Founder Dewhouse Limited, Beatrice Ahaneku, said their experiences are not different from others. They pointed out they learnt a great deal from the programme especially about book keeping and customer relationships which they intend to infuse into their own businesses.
Speaking to Daily Sun at the event, Joseph Akpata, Portfolio Manager for National Priority Portfolio in MTN Foundation explained that the whole aim of the Yellopreneur initiative is to see how the Foundation can support or contribute to the reduction of women unemployment in the country, and then advance women in entrepreneurship through capacity building and training. So, as part of the structure of the initiative, we had capacity building session for 500 of them.
They were trained in different areas of entrepreneurship study and then we had 200 shortlisted with guided criteria, so that, they can have a pitch session. So, we have concluded all those other stages and today what we are having is the pitch session. So, the women are expected to come have their pitches in presence of industry experts who are the judges. So that, they can score them.
The pitch session will take a period of five days. After the pitch, out of the 200, 150 will be selected to receive the equipment loan to support and their businesses.
“This is the pilot phase and the plan is to roll out more phases such that we will have opportunity to support more Nigerian women because we strongly believe that when they do well, they will definitely contribute to the development of the country which will be good for every one of us”, Akpata said.
The selection/reactions from beneficiaries
After the pitch event, 101 women whose business ideas met with the stipulated standard were selected for the equipment loan of up to N2 million instead of the initial 150, the Foundation planned to engage. Among the women selected where: King Victoria Udeme, the CEO of The Victoria King, Princess Ekpedeme Nyah, CEO of Tender Hub and Mbapinen Grace Aondowase, CEO of Celim Ventures.
In a telephone interview with Daily Sun, Nyah, the CEO of Tender Hub, stated that, it was a great privilege to be trained by EDC of the prestigious Lagos Business School courtesy of MTNF. According to her, the training was highly impactful, insightful, expository and developmental. “The knowledge gained from the training has helped me to structure my business in all aspects ranging from records keeping, good customer services/ relationship, financial management and all that. This will take our business to world class level in the next 3 to 5 years. I am so grateful to MTNF”
On how she felt having been chosen as one of the loan beneficiaries, hear her, “I am so happy to benefit from this funding opportunity out of over 35,000 women who started the process from across the country. It was not an easy journey, but I am happy it ended in praise. I made it to the finals and was chosen.
Speaking on the interest rate she said, the interest rate is very affordable.
“I think it’s the cheapest I have known. Given 2 million naira, the interest is just a one-time flat rate of 2.5% on 75% amount for the entire loan period of 3 years. For instance, 75% of 2million naira is 1.5milliin naira. So, the interest is 2.5% of 1.5million one time interest which is 37,500 naira only. The other 25% of the loan will be given as grant on completion of payment of 2million 37,500 naira in 3 years including 6 months moratorium. So is the cheapest.”
She encouraged other women to work hard in their businesses while also looking out for and engaging in funding opportunities. “I encourage my fellow women in business to register their businesses, and do proper documentation as this will give them advantages in funding opportunities.”
As a way of giving back, she said, “Currently in my business, we train and recruit the locals including women in movie production and we also engage them in our productions for a fee. This equips them with skills of script writing/acting while generating funds for them and curbing unemployment. In near future, we will also advance to the funding of women owned small businesses just as MTNF has done for me.”
For Udeme of The Victoria King, the one-month training program, which was facilitated by EDC in partnership with MTN was intense, and super worth it. “I have been wanting to get a degree from the Lagos Business School in a very long time but because of financial constraints, I haven’t been able to. So, this was a huge opportunity for me, as it came on a platter of gold and I was awarded a certificate of completion at the end of it. I realized, after the training, the importance of having a good financial documentation system in your business. It’s not enough to see and assume the profits. Documentation helps you keep your business in check and can even help you attract viable relationships with investors because when you know your numbers, you know what it takes to scale up your business.”
On how she felt being selected as one of the beneficiaries of the equipment loan, Udeme said, I feel very ecstatic, especially because the procedure was very rigorous and uncertain. These were industrious women I was head-to-head with, so its mind blowing being selected.”
Corroborating, the CEO, Celim Ventures, Aondowase also pointed out the training from EDC has impacted greatly on her business adding that she is very lucky to be selected for the loan. “I am very lucky to selected for the loan. The competition was intense, so, being among those selected meant a lot to me because I know I was selected on merit not because I know anyone.”
On the interest, she said it is affordable compared to the commercial banks adding that, she is very grateful to MTNF for the oppourtunity. “As I said earlier, getting something like this without having to know anyone or pull some strings boosted my confidence as a person and a businesswoman. And then, the loan they gave us, has gone a long way in helping my business, she said.
The second phase of Yellopreneur
In continuation of its objective to help women achieve their entrepreneurial ambitions, in August, 2023, MTN Foundation, through its MTN Yellopreneur Initiative again collaborated with Mastercard Foundation and Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University, to train 20,000 Nigerian female entrepreneurs on entrepreneurial skills.
Speaking at a media parley in Lagos, Sanya explained that the training which will run for four weeks will contribute to reductions in female unemployment and will help transform budding small businesses for Nigerian women.
She said following the deployment of the Call for Application and review of entries, the campaign recorded a total of 35,000 valid applications, adding that 500 female entrepreneurs were selected and trained by EDC last year.
“The EDC requested for partnership with the MTN Foundation to train 20,000 out of the 35,000 Yellopreneur applicants which provides the opportunity to address the issue of inadequate training facing female entrepreneurs.”
Post training, the EDC will be providing advisory and business support services for a period of three months and conduct marketplace event for the trained female entrepreneurs, while Mastercard Foundation will be providing funding support for those who are interested, she disclosed.
After their training, the executive secretary said the trainees will have access to loan with two per cent interest rate. “If they can pay the loan at the stipulated time, they will be getting 25 per cent of the loan, as grants. We are doing this because we want to keep the door open for other women to participate, she said.
In the same vein, the programme director, Mastercard Foundation Transforming Nigerian Youth Initiative, Nneka Okekearu, said Africa is the youngest and fastest-growing continent in the world, adding that by 2030, there will be 375 million young people in the job market in Africa.
She disclosed that Mastercard Foundation, through its Young Africa Works Strategy, sets out an ambitious goal for the next decade to enable 30 million young people in Africa, especially young women, to secure employment they see as dignified and fulfilling. In Nigeria, we plan to have between eight to 10 million young Nigerians that will benefit from that initiative. We know we cannot do it alone, hence the reason we are partnering with MTN Foundation and EDC to achieve our target, she said.
A consultant at EDC, Fayo Williams, said the Yellopreneur initiative has opened a huge opportunity for women in Nigeria, while revealing that the 20,000 female entrepreneurs will be trained on how to prepare a business/growth plan, register their businesses, create website for their businesses and be visible online, among others.
All these will help their businesses to be more sustainable. There is going to be networking and opportunity to access finance, Williams further revealed.
Continuation of Yelloprenuer
No doubt, the MTN Yellopreneur has indeed impacted the lives of Nigerian women, as it has empowered over 20000 women in the country.
It is indeed good news to know that MTN is not resting on its oars, as it planned to continue this programme to reducing female unemployment rate in Nigeria.
Sanya affirmed to this when she said, “I found out that when you empower a woman, you empower a community. Women are natural influencers, so for us, the single goal is to contribute to the reduction of women unemployment through investment in women entrepreneurship, thereby moving to a sustainable socioeconomic development of Nigeria.”
As MTN rolls the third phase next year, it is believed that more women would apply, as it is a sure way of improving the lives of women in Nigeria.
