80% of businesses owned by women lack access to formal credit — FG
Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion Widens, Reports SEC
By Obas Esiedesa
ABUJA — The Nigerian government revealed that over 80% of businesses owned by women function without access to formal credit, significantly limiting their potential for growth and contribution to the economy.
During the grand finale of the “Give-to-Gain” Summit marking the 2026 International Women’s Month, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim highlighted the challenges faced by women in accessing financial resources. Despite comprising more than half of Nigeria’s population and accounting for over 40% of the agricultural labor force, women continue to face substantial barriers to financial inclusion, land ownership, and structured economic opportunities.
“Most women-led enterprises are situated in the informal sector,” Sulaiman-Ibrahim noted, emphasizing the urgent need for targeted interventions to expand access to credit and market opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
Dr. Emomotimi Agama, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), represented by Executive Commissioner for Operations Mr. Bola Ajomale, spoke at the event about the importance of integrating women into Nigeria’s capital market. He stated that, while Nigerian women own around 41% of micro-businesses, with an estimated 23 million entrepreneurs, they still lack access to capital market instruments vital for generating wealth and expanding business operations.
Agama articulated the distinction between economic activity and wealth accumulation. “The capital market provides the bridge between income and wealth,” he said, underscoring its role in enabling businesses to secure growth capital and households to build assets over time.
Despite a reported increase in financial inclusion among women to 70% in 2023, Agama indicated that the gender gap has actually widened, revealing that progress for women is lagging behind that of the general populace. He noted significant regional disparities, particularly in northern Nigeria, where financial exclusion rates are higher among women, farmers, and dependents.
Key initiatives discussed included the integration of gender considerations into sustainable finance frameworks, the introduction of targeted financial instruments for women-led enterprises, and enhanced investor protections to instill confidence in the market.
Agama urged stakeholders—including listed companies, market operators, institutional investors, and policymakers—to take actionable steps to improve women’s representation and access to capital. Currently, only about 7% of CEOs of listed Nigerian companies are women.
He emphasized that achieving Nigeria’s goal of a one-trillion-dollar economy hinges on the full participation of women, particularly through increased access to capital market opportunities. “The full participation of Nigerian women in the capital market is not a social aspiration; it is the economic arithmetic of our national ambition,” Agama said.
