In their words: COVID-19 & Women Entrepreneurs

Due to the global pandemic, women business owners around the world had to adjust to the new reality: shuttering their doors due to stay-at-home orders and pivoting their offerings to respond to COVID-19.

At the Foundation, we remained completely committed to supporting these women during this incredibly difficult time and beyond. Their voices and experiences are so important to us, and we think it’s so important for others to hear them too. Below, you can hear from some of the women in our Mentoring and Entrepreneurship programmes on how the Coronavirus has impacted them and their businesses, and why our programmes, support, advocacy, and the networks we facilitate were more vital than ever.

Florence highlighted that they are actively trying to raise funds to cushion their businesses, which is made harder by a gendered lack of support and no networks to fall back on, pointing to there being so such thing as an “old boys’ club” for women:

Naomi articulated that, without gender-specific support from the top down, women entrepreneurs’ vision and expertise – and their businesses – will be held back even more:

Hanan discussed the  “double burden” many women faced with the onset of the pandemic, having to both provide childcare and perform housework:

Peace reminded us that the pandemic compounded preexisting barriers for women entrepreneurs, such as the discrimination they face from banks and financial service providers. As she stresses, in these uncertain times, empowering women remained the smartest investment that can be made – they don’t just run businesses, they inspire others in their communities as well:

When a woman entrepreneur faces major challenges, very often many others are put at risk too. Ololade, who runs Ileoge Women’s Initiative in Lagos, embodies this perfectly as she strives to support other women who are finding not only their finances but their mental health impacted: