Leading African
businessman and philanthropist, Tony O. Elumelu CON joined: the First Lady of
Nigeria, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, wife of the Vice President of Nigeria, Mrs. Dolapo
Osinbajo, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) CEO, Segun Awolowo
andExecutive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC) Ms. Arancha
Gonzalez at The Women in Export Stakeholders Forum and Exhibition in Abuja.
Themed ‘Achieving
Zero Oil Growth Through Women Inclusiveness in Global Export Trade’ this
year’s event, organised by the NEPC and the ITC, sought to increase the
economic empowerment of women through trade via the ITC’s SheTrades
Initiative. The goal of this initiative is to connect one million
women to the international market by 2020.
Keynote addresses at
the Forum were delivered by the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari and Ms. Arancha
Gonzalez. In her opening remarks, Mrs. Buhari boldy called on the public
sector to support women saying, “I would like to lead a call to the Federal
Government to assign 20% of public procurement to women-owned businesses."
Mr. Elumelu,
Chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa and Transcorp Plc stated
that the capacity of women in the private sector to contribute to the
development of the country is underestimated, pointing to the significant value
created by female beneficiaries of the $100 million Tony Elumelu Foundation
Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).
"Africa is in need
of economic and social development and investing in women is one of the
smartest ways to go about it. It is for this reason that the SDGs have focused
on women empowerment as a necessary commitment in alleviating poverty," said
Mr. Elumelu as he addressed the audience made up primarily of women from
diverse backgrounds.
"When a woman does
well, her entire family does well. We need to put women first. I am proud
to say that full and equal participation of women is an important internal
objective of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme."
Representing the
private sector, Elumelu was joined by Mrs. Buhari and Mrs. Osibanjo, where he
signed a Call-To-Action through partnership with The Tony Elumelu
Foundation and Africa’s global bank, UBA, to achieve the following:
· Drive
up the statistics of female participation in the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship
Programme from 70:30 (male/female) representation in 2016 to 60:40 in 2017 and
50:50 by the year 2020.
· Commission
the production of in-depth research publications and case studies focused on
solutions to unique challenges facing women entrepreneurs.
Other dignitaries
present at the forum include Senator Aisha Alhassan, Honourable Minister
of Women Affairs and Ms Aisha Abubakar, Honourable Minister of State,
Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
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