In Pictures
Photos: Women-led businesses in north Nigeria struggle for funds

Over five years, from 2017 to 2022, women-led companies in Nigeria raised $221m.
But an astonishing 97 percent of that was concentrated in the commercial capital Lagos or in the southern region of the country, while a mere 2.8 percent went to women running businesses in northern Nigeria.
When investors decide to take risks, they appear to bet more on the more commercially viable south of Africa’s largest economy, not the north, which is usually associated with low developmental indicators.
The lack of substantial funding for formal and informal startup ecosystems in the north has left many women there vulnerable to financial insecurity, even as more of them become entrepreneurs.
A survey on women involved in informal cross-border trade, published in 2019 by UN Women and the African Development Bank (AfDB), shows that the most common reason for business ownership among women in the north is need.
Most of the women surveyed opened small shops or became street vendors to earn whatever they can to provide some level of economic stability for their family.
UN Women recommended investing in capacity-building programmes, including training in marketing and sales, for women entrepreneurs to effectively compete in regional markets.
Here are firsthand accounts by women living in the north-central city of Minna, talking about what it is like to run small businesses without the financing, visibility, or credibility afforded to their peers living closer to the country’s industrial hub.

![Without the additional capital from bank lenders or investors, women in Northern Nigeria find it challenging to purchase all the equipment needed to operate their businesses. When interviewed, Bunmi mentioned “I only have one [sewing] machine presently. So at times, you know, there are some designs that some people requested for, but I’m unable to meet up with what they requested.”](/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2.-Woman-at-sewing-machine_IMG_0203.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&quality=80)



![A seamstress places two of her items on display. In a report published in 2019, UN Women recommended investing in capacity-building programs (including training in marketing and sales) for women entrepreneurs to effectively compete in regional markets. Many of the women interviewed in Minna discussed the challenge of being undervalued because of their limited formal training. “The people that we are dealing with…someone [like me] is finding it difficult to please them the way they want,” one business owner shared. “They will see [my dresses] and would love it quite alright. But they will look down on [me and my products] and what they are supposed to spend on it, they will not like to spend on it.”](/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/6.-Mannequin-PHOTO-2022-07-04-16-22-57.jpg?fit=770%2C513&quality=80)







![As Bunmi closes her shop for the day, she offers this reflection on her persistence in a volatile economy: “In this life, if you have made up your mind to be a businessman or a woman, you take risks…So if peradventure, it arises that they say, [an investor] doesn’t want to work with me because I'm not giving them what they want, then I think I would take it in good faith. I think it's in good faith. Because that [business deal] was not made for me, because anything that belongs to me will surely be mine.”](/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/14.-Bunmi-opening-her-shop_IMG_0211.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&quality=80)