FG backs GuaranteeHer N100 billion scheme for women-led businesses

The Federal Government has backed the National Credit Guarantee Company’s GuaranteeHer initiative, a gender-responsive credit guarantee scheme designed to unlock more than N100 billion in financing for women-owned and women-led businesses over the next five years.

The initiative is expected to support more than 20,000 women-owned and women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and create or sustain over 150,000 direct and indirect jobs across Nigeria. It was unveiled at an NCGC stakeholders’ forum in Lagos with the theme, “Credit Guarantees as a Catalyst for Inclusive Economic Growth.”

Government support for women entrepreneurs

The forum brought together government officials, banks, financial institutions, industry experts and development partners. Speaking at the event, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said limited access to affordable capital remained one of the major challenges facing Nigerian businesses, particularly women-led enterprises that often depend on personal savings, family support and informal sources of finance.

Oyedele said the impact of GuaranteeHer should be measured by how much credit ultimately reaches businesses, the extent to which collateral requirements are reduced, the affordability of loans and whether repayment terms are appropriate for businesses. He said the broader objective was to help businesses move from micro to small, small to medium and eventually medium to large enterprises, creating jobs and increasing economic activity in the process.

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, represented by the Chief Executive Officer of Odio Mimonet, Odio Oseni, said many women continue to face financial barriers despite their entrepreneurial capacity. She said the partnership between the ministry and NCGC would combine the government’s policy mandate and grassroots reach with the credit guarantee company’s financial structure to reduce lending risks and improve access to formal financing for women entrepreneurs.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Doris Udoka-Anile, represented by Bassey Philip, described GuaranteeHer as economic infrastructure for inclusion. She stressed that financing women-owned businesses should be viewed as an economic growth strategy rather than welfare.

NCGC track record and targets

Earlier, NCGC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bonaventure Okhaimo, said the company had enabled 67,112 enterprises to access finance during its first year of operations, with about N6.5 trillion in funding made available and 601,209 direct and indirect jobs created or sustained.

Okhaimo said more than 66 per cent of the credit supported priority sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, trade, technology, renewable energy, transport and healthcare. He added that more than 11,374 women-owned businesses had already benefited from NCGC interventions in its first year.

The NCGC said GuaranteeHer would build on these interventions by providing a framework that encourages financial institutions to lend to women-owned businesses while reducing the risks associated with such lending. The company said the initiative would also help address barriers including inadequate collateral, informal business documentation and perceived lending risks.

What GuaranteeHer means for the economy

If successfully implemented, the five-year initiative is projected to facilitate more than N100 billion in financing, reach over 20,000 women-owned and women-led businesses, and create or sustain more than 150,000 jobs. For women entrepreneurs, the scheme is intended to improve access to formal credit and enable viable businesses to expand, invest in productive assets, employ more workers and contribute more significantly to Nigeria’s economic growth.