At a recent high-level conference in Lagos, business leaders and a prominent women's foundation issued a strong call to action, identifying digital literacy and capacity-building as the most significant hurdles preventing Nigerian women and youth from thriving in technology and agribusiness.
Conference Highlights Critical Gaps in Empowerment
The event, organized by the Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo (NNII) Foundation, was held with the theme "Innovative solutions and funding for women and youth: In digital literacy and agribusiness." The President General of the foundation, Iyom Josephine Anenih, set the tone by emphasizing the urgent need to open up access to financing and technology. She argued this is essential for fostering digital literacy, driving agribusiness innovation, and ensuring inclusive growth for shared prosperity in Nigeria.
Chairman of the event, Major General Abel Obi Umahi (rtd.), reinforced this message, stressing the non-negotiable importance of education, digital skills, and the economic empowerment of women and young people as pillars for national development.
Tech and Agri-Experts Chart the Path Forward
Two keynote speakers provided concrete pathways for achieving these goals. Leo Stan Ekeh, Founder and Chairman of Zinox Group, addressed the topic of entrepreneurship in the tech sector. He declared that no modern business can run without technology, which he described as the central hub for wealth creation. Ekeh stated that digital literacy is the essential tool for women and youths to break down long-standing economic and social barriers.
He reaffirmed Nigeria's national commitment to achieving 70% digital literacy by 2027 and made a direct promise to facilitate a day of specialized training for a selected group from the NNII Foundation at his company's facilities.
From the agricultural perspective, Kola Masha, co-founder and Managing Director of Babban Gona, spoke on building sustainable agribusiness practices. He explained their model of supporting rural communities by acting as a "farmers' university, bank, and market" through agri-processing. This integrated approach, he said, allows for access to low-cost, high-quality raw materials while simultaneously enabling farmers to grow their businesses significantly.
Concrete Commitments and a Formal Communiqué
The conference culminated in a communiqué that formally recognized the digital future of agriculture, business, and entrepreneurship. To meet this future head-on, several pledges were made:
- A commitment to continue and expand the 10,000-women training initiative through tech platforms under the Zinox Group, directly supporting the national 70% digital literacy goal.
- Encouragement for women to form clusters and agricultural cooperatives to boost their collective power and market access.
- A promise to provide digital literacy training for up to one million women, sourced through the NNII Foundation platform.
The gathering served as a powerful reminder from business experts that embracing entrepreneurship and digital skills is crucial for Nigerian youths and women to directly combat the country's poverty rate and drive sustainable economic growth.
