By Akanimo Sampson
Nigerian women entrepreneurs will be benefiting from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) pretty soon. WTO Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, met with them and representatives of small businesses to discuss the challenges facing them and the role WTO can play to help them benefit from trade.
Earlier during her three-day official visit to Nigeria, she met with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Vice President, senior members of the government including Ministers of Trade, Industry and Investment, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Women Affairs, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, business leaders and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
In her meeting with Nigerian captains of industry on March 16, she praised Nigeria’s efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and urged the country to build on this success.
She emphasized the importance of increasing vaccine production, ensuring equitable distribution and making sure that medical goods such as vaccines can cross borders seamlessly.
Okonjo-Iweala underlined the role that trade can play in helping Nigeria’s economy diversify and move from oil dependency towards a modernised and low-carbon economy. Tapping into external demand can help pull people out of low-productivity activities and into more tradable goods and services, she said.
She harped on Nigeria’s success in the hospitality, retail, finance, entertainment and app development sectors as examples of how to tap into the endless opportunities digital trade can offer to both small and larger firms.
Connecting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and especially women-owned businesses, to regional and international market opportunities is key.
More people will then benefit from trade, raising living standards and creating jobs, she said. The WTO provides the underpinning for open and predictable global trade.
In a meeting with women entrepreneurs and representatives of MSMEs on March 17, she stressed the role of women and small businesses in the economy and the need for additional support for their efforts to thrive commercially.
The challenges facing women and MSMEs have been worsened by the pandemic, she said. ‘Lowering the obstacles for businesses of all sizes, and especially women-owned businesses, to participate in international trade would help build back a better economy for everyone after this crisis.’
