Flourish Africa to Empower 2500 Female Entrepreneurs with N1bn in Five Years

Gilbert Ekugbe

Flourish Africa, a female empowerment Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) has announced plans to empower 2500 female entrepreneurs in Nigeria with a N1 billion grant over the next five years.

According to the Founder, Flourish Africa, Apostle. Folorunso Alakija, the N1 billion fund for female entrepreneurs is a major step towards supporting the entrepreneurial activities of female-owned businesses in Africa while also helping them achieve their full potentials.

With the pilot phase to kick off in Lagos and Abuja, Alakija, lamented over the huge chunk of women currently being left behind, noting that women represent 49.6 percent of the world population and must be carried along to drive inclusive economic growth and development.

Addressing a press briefing, the Founder said out of the N1 billion fund, a grant of up to N2 million would be disbursed to 100 women every year for five years after going through a rigorous pitch process, adding that working with its partners, the beneficiaries would also like to be exposed to business and life skills training programmes to help them grow their businesses sustainably.

“I launched the Flourish Africa 1 billion Naira Fund last year during my 70th birthday as a gift to hardworking and enterprising women. This initiative will focus on empowering women economically and socially for the benefit of their immediate families and the society,” she said.

She further explained that one of its training partners, Eloh Consulting Limited will train the female entrepreneurs in 10 modules of management development over three months, while “Google will provide free digital skills training and Google Business Profile verification for female entrepreneurs”. Similarly, PwC will train the women on the tax regulations and requirements for doing business in Nigeria, so that their businesses can be tax compliant,” she added.

In her words: “After the training, 100 audacious entrepreneurs from the pool will access grants of a maximum of N2 million according to their business needs and capacities from an annual fund of 200 million Naira.”

Also speaking, Partner – Eloh Consulting Limited, Mrs. Lilian Uwaeme, stated that the company is proud to be partnering with Flourish Africa because the vision to empower 500 female entrepreneurs this year is a laudable one that aligns with Eloh Consulting’s values of empowerment.

“We have put together a group of seasoned facilitators with vast industry experience to facilitate this programme. We are also providing female entrepreneurs with a one-year business plan advisory support. This is to ensure that at the end of the programme, they would be equipped with knowledge and skills that will enable them to run sustainable and profitable businesses”, said Uwaeme.

The Director, Tax Reporting & Strategy, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mr. Kenneth Erikume, said the initiative would empower the beneficiaries to understand the need to properly register their businesses and intellectual property, understand their role as good corporate citizens and comply with their tax obligations.

Erikume said PwC is supporting the programme as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts.

“The initiative aligns with our interest to support gender diversity in the Nigerian business landscape and the future and growth of Nigerian entrepreneurs,” he said.

The Regional Head Brand and Reputation, Africa-Google, Mrs Jola Aderemi-Makinde, stated that supporting small businesses, particularly those run by women, to have access to the resources they need to expand, grow, and thrive is at the heart of Google’s work in Africa.
“By providing free digital skills training and Google Business Profile verification, we can support more women entrepreneurs to boost their business exposure, while simultaneously teaching them how to scale their businesses using Web tools” she stated.

Flourish Africa philosophy stems from Apostle Alakija’s assertion that many women have the potential to be great. The main objective of Flourish Africa is to create an enabling platform that provides skill development, mentoring, and access to finance and the marketplace for female entrepreneurs.