Back Her Ambition, Build the Economy: Nigeria’s Untapped Power.

Entrepreneurship is often thrown around as a trendy term. You’ll hear it in boardrooms, classrooms, and policy discussions. Yet its true significance is that it drives innovation, creates jobs, and fuels economic growth.

In every corner of Nigeria, entrepreneurs are turning ideas into realities, solving problems, and reshaping industries.

“Because of my disability, I want to show the world that I can do anything,” said Aisha Musa a young entrepreneur from Lagos, Nigeria. Through her boutique, AIM Fashion Design, she sells stylish women’s and children’s wear. What others see as a limitation is, for her, the fuel that drives her entrepreneurial fire.

The Nigeria Edition of the Young Africa Works Dialogue Series convened young entrepreneurs, majority young women, alongside key stakeholders from financial institutions, government agencies, and industry regulators. The forum created a vital platform for dialogue and collaboration, enabling young innovators to engage directly with decision-makers, co-create practical solutions, and make concrete commitments to tackle the systemic policy and institutional barriers hindering the start-up and growth of women-led enterprises.

“My phone is my shop”, said another young entrepreneur, she described how she runs her entire business through WhatsApp and other apps.

These two are among millions of young women across Nigeria who are not waiting for opportunities but creating them. For them, entrepreneurship is not a buzzword, it is a pathway to dignified work and independence. And for Nigeria, their collective effort is the engine powering the economy, with small and medium enterprises contributing nearly half of GDP and employing over 86 percent of the workforce.

Yet there is a profound disconnect between this on-the-ground reality and the systems designed to support it.

Unreliable network coverage and the high cost of data impede these young women from making the strides they need.

For Zainab, who sells rice and spices to support her family, daily business is a struggle against a web of multiple and unofficial taxes. Failure to pay often leads to harassment or even the seizure of her goods; a reality that drains her income, disrupts cash flow, and makes survival harder for women entrepreneurs like her

For others, the financial sector is a no-go zone. In Nigeria, 92% of women entrepreneurs are interested in formal financing, but only 11% of MSME loans ever reach women-led businesses. The reason is simple, as one woman put it; “When you enter a bank, the experience is not nice”.

But this mindset must change. Young women are not a risk to be managed; they are one of the most powerful investments Nigeria can make for inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Young women face impossible collateral requirements, complex paperwork, and interest rates that feel like a punishment. For women with disabilities, the obstacles are even more cruel; many report being deliberately ignored or turned away by financial institutions, shutting them out from opportunities to build their businesses and independence.

This is not just a market failure; it’s a failure of imagination, especially because the solutions are well within reach. The most effective way to design financial products that truly work for these entrepreneurs is to co-create them with the very young women who will use them.

First, we must design financial products that reflect the entrepreneur’s reality. This means offering collateral-free loans for marginalized groups, building in flexible grace periods that match agricultural and business cycles, and simplifying application processes so they are accessible to all.

Second, we need to invest in the ecosystem, not just the enterprise. Let’s tackle the infrastructure gaps such as unreliable electricity and network coverage that stifle growth. Additionally, we must support localized training in financial literacy that builds confidence and know-how.

Finally, bridging the trust gap requires deliberate action. Financial institutions must train staff on engaging with MSMEs and ensuring disability inclusion, while establishing transparent, accessible feedback channels.

Young women of Nigeria are ready. It’s time for financial institutions, digital platforms, and policymakers to step up and fuel their hustle.

The future of our economy depends on it.

By Rosy Fynn