Moses Uwagbale
The Organisation of Women in International Trade (OWIT), an NGO, Nigeria chapter, says women’s limited access to finance is affecting their involvement in international trade.
Ms Blessing Irabor, OWIT President, Nigeria, said in Benin on Friday that women who operate Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) often lack the financial resources to expand into international markets.
“Funding is a major challenge for women to participate in international trade.
“The fee payable to get the international requirements is very high and women who operate SMEs can’t afford this fee.’’
She said that poor funding also posed a challenge to women involved in exportation to get the right standards and certification for their products.
“We put women into cluster arrangements so they can pool resources together to get the right standards and certification for their products.
“It is easier for them to export under the cluster arrangements.’’
She also identified poor educational background and stiff bottlenecks as other factors hindering women’s participation in international trade.
“Some women are not literate, making it difficult to understand and fill import and export documents.
“We are suggesting that export documents should be simplified so that women with little formal education can easily read and understand these documents.’’
She added that facilitating access to finance, market information and networks, capacity building and training for women entrepreneurs would improve their involvement in international trade.
