NITDA moves to bridge funding gap for female startup founders in Nigeria 

The Nationwide Data Expertise Improvement Company (NITDA) has stated it’s working in direction of bridging the prevailing funding hole for feminine startup founders in Nigeria by way of its Nationwide Gender Digital Inclusion Technique (NGDIS).

The Company acknowledged this because it offered the NGDIS on the United Nations 69th Session of the Fee on the Standing of Ladies (CSW69), the place it highlighted efforts to shut the gender digital divide within the nation.

Talking on the occasion, Particular Assistant to the Director Basic of NITDA on Strategic Partnerships, Iklima Salihu, offered the technique, emphasizing NITDA’s position in driving digital transformation and creating alternatives for girls and women to actively take part within the digital economic system.

“Recognizing the position of girls in Nigeria’s innovation and entrepreneurship panorama, the technique emphasizes entry to funding, mentorship, and technical help for female-led startups, leveraging the Nigeria Startup Act to extend monetary and institutional assist for girls within the tech ecosystem,” he stated.

Digital literacy for girls 

He famous that the framework additionally prioritizes digital literacy, entrepreneurship, security, and gender-responsive insurance policies to speed up girls’s participation in Nigeria’s rising digital economic system.

• In line with him, the NGDIS is constructed on 5 core pillars that may drive girls’s entry, participation, and management within the digital ecosystem.
• It seeks to develop digital literacy and abilities by guaranteeing no less than 40% feminine participation in all nationwide coaching initiatives.

“With 58% of younger girls globally experiencing on-line harassment, the NGDIS prioritizes on-line security and cybersecurity consciousness,” he added.

Implementing the NGDIS 

Talking on the occasion, the Honourable Minister of Ladies Affairs, Honourable Imaan Sulaiman, FSI, underscored the pressing want for motion in tackling gender disparities in digital entry.

She revealed alarming statistics that reveal the stark actuality of the digital divide in Nigeria, highlighting that 68% of Nigerian girls don’t personal smartphones, making it tough for them to entry on-line companies and financial alternatives.

She confused that this divide extends past entry, as girls and kids face important on-line dangers, together with cyber harassment, digital gender-based violence, and exclusion from the quickly rising tech-driven economic system.

• She referred to as for the swift implementation of the NGDIS 2024-2027, which seeks to take away the structural boundaries that forestall girls from totally partaking within the digital economic system.
• She emphasised the necessity for robust authorized frameworks that may speed up motion in selling digital literacy, offering protected on-line areas, and empowering girls to thrive in technology-driven industries.
• She reaffirmed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is dedicated to creating an inclusive digital future the place no lady or baby is left behind.

She urged all stakeholders to work collectively to remodel digital entry and safety for girls and kids, making know-how a device for empowerment slightly than exclusion.

What you need to know 

In line with the Financial institution of Business (BOI), Nigeria leads the world in girls’s entrepreneurial exercise, with 23 million feminine entrepreneurs accounting for 41% of the nation’s micro-businesses.

Nonetheless, entry to finance stays a big barrier for a lot of of those girls.

The Financial institution famous that regardless of the spectacular variety of girls entrepreneurs in Nigeria, many battle to entry the funding wanted to develop their companies.