Nigerian female-led businesses have long grappled with challenges in accessing adequate funding to sustain and grow their enterprises.
In 2025, addressing this funding deficit has become more critical than ever, as these entrepreneurs strive to thrive in an increasingly competitive market.
A survey conducted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Nigeria Health Watch, involving 100,000 Nigerian women between 2023 and 2024, revealed that over 62 percent of female entrepreneurs identified a lack of start-up capital or equipment as the primary barrier preventing them from achieving their economic ambitions.
The report also highlighted other challenges, including insufficient family support or sponsorship, limited education and training opportunities, and issues related to power, discrimination, and insecurity.
Further insights from a Moniepoint report ‘Funding Nigeria’s Women-Owned Businesses — A Case Study on Moniepoint’s Working Capital Loans’ revealed that 40.2 percent of women utilise personal funds and savings to start or run their businesses, while 59.8 percent rely on external sources.
While exploring the external sources, the report revealed that a greater number of women access funds from family and friends, either as loans or cash gifts.
Despite these efforts, the report noted a financing gap of 32 percent, with women either less likely to receive funding or receiving smaller amounts when compared to their male counterparts.
Read also: Why we supported female entrepreneurs with grants – Kolomoni MFB
What is the way forward?
Financial experts and industry leaders have emphasised the importance of adopting strategic measures, including leveraging gender-specific funding opportunities, embracing digital solutions, mastering financial literacy, vocational training and improved government policies, to bridge the financing gap and unlock the potential of women-led enterprises.
For Fifehan Osikanlu, Founder of Eden Venture Group, creating a supportive government policy is crucial to tackling the funding deficit for female-led businesses in Nigeria.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should enforce a 30-40 percent mandatory lending requirement for women by commercial banks and ensure 50 percent access to intervention funds. Too often, the dominant narrative portrays women as helpless or unserious, but the reality is different,” she said.
Osikanlu added that while access to financial and digital resources is essential, it is not enough.
“True empowerment requires financial literacy, digital skills, and policies that meet women where they are. We must move beyond inclusion to ownership, investment, and leadership, ensuring women not only participate in economies but drive and shape them. This is about power, autonomy, and legacy—transforming families, communities, mindsets, and economies,” she said.
Osasu Igbinedion-Ogwuche – Founder of TOS Group emphasised the need to create more access to loans and funds from Banks.
“Collateral remains one of the biggest barriers preventing women from accessing loans. Banks must create interventions that allow women running small and medium-scale enterprises to access funding without stringent collateral requirements. About 95 percent of Nigerian women have already proven their creditworthiness to repay their loans on time. It’s time for policymakers and financial institutions to recognize this and implement solutions that enable women to grow and scale their businesses,” She said.
Hauwa Adeeyo, senior special assistant to Governor Babjide Sanwo-Olu on Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade, and Investment, emphasised the government’s commitment to strengthening female-led MSMEs and ensuring financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs by Lagos State.
“Lagos State Women Entrepreneurship Fund (LASWEF) provides direct funding and low-interest loans to women-led businesses such as Eko MSME Fashion Hub and Market Modernisation programme. Additionally, successful female business leaders and e-commerce giants will guide participants of our initiatives on how to optimise digital platforms, secure funding, and build sustainable enterprises,” she said.
