NEF: Fix Infrastructure For Women Businesses

Dr. Sidney Inegbedion didn’t mince words when he stood before women“>women entrepreneurs in Abuja this week. The infrastructure problems choking businesses across Nigeria hit women“>women-owned enterprises especially hard, and he wants the federal government to stop ignoring it.

The President of the Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum made his case at the 2025 Annual Conference of the African women“>Women Entrepreneurs Program, where hundreds of businesswomen gathered to share experiences and strategies for survival in Nigeria’s challenging economic environment.

Inegbedion’s message was direct. Bad roads, unreliable electricity, poor water supply, and currency instability are destroying the productivity of women“>women who already face unique obstacles in business. 

These aren’t minor inconveniences. They’re foundational problems that determine whether businesses survive or collapse.

“In modern times, names like Iyom Josephine Anenih, Pauline Tallen, and Kema Chikwe remain pillars in the shaping of the nation’s democracy, and the Nigerian woman makes up the 41 percent micro business ownership across Nigeria and controls 60 percent of the informal sector in both rural and urban communities, spanning the marketplaces, farmlands, roadside places, and home fronts,” he said.

Those statistics deserve a second look. Nigerian women“>women control 60 percent of the informal sector. That’s not a side story about small businesses. That’s the backbone of daily economic activity across markets, farmlands, roadsides, and neighborhoods in every state.

The conference theme was

“Together We Rise: women“>Women’s Collective Impact,”

and Inegbedion delivered a presentation titled

“women“>Women’s Impact in a Developing Economy.”

He used the platform to explain the Vital Voices model introduced by former U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton.

That model emphasizes women“>women sharing experiences, skills, and ambitions as a pathway to economic, social, and political empowerment. It encourages collaboration with men through persuasion rather than confrontation, building bridges instead of battles.

Inegbedion pointed to examples that make Nigeria’s entrepreneurial landscape real rather than abstract. women“>Women frying akara by the roadside. women“>Women plaiting hair in neighborhood shops. women“>Women running nano enterprises that might seem small individually but collectively contribute to GDP every single day.

Then there are the headline names. Folorunsho Alakija stands as Nigeria’s richest woman and a female icon in the oil and gas industry with a net worth of $2.6 billion. Her success proves what’s possible when talent meets opportunity and persistence.

But most women“>women entrepreneurs aren’t operating at that level. They’re running micro and small businesses where infrastructure failures create daily crises that drain profits and energy.

Imagine running a food processing business when electricity disappears for 12 hours at a time. Your refrigeration stops. Your products spoil. Your losses mount. You can’t plan production schedules because you don’t know when power will return.

Or consider managing a manufacturing operation when roads to your suppliers are so damaged that transport costs triple and delivery times become unpredictable. You can’t promise customers reliable delivery when your supply chain depends on vehicles navigating obstacle courses.

Water scarcity hits businesses that need it for production, sanitation, or service delivery. When the municipal supply fails, you’re buying from water vendors at inflated prices, watching your operating costs climb while your margins shrink.

Currency instability creates its own nightmare. You price your products based on current costs, then the naira weakens again, and your imported raw materials suddenly cost 20 percent more. You either raise prices and lose customers or maintain prices and lose money.

These infrastructure gaps don’t affect all businesses equally. Large corporations have generators, backup water systems, foreign currency reserves, and supply chain flexibility. Small women“>women-owned businesses operate on razor-thin margins with no cushion for shocks.

Dr. Inegbedion called on the federal government to prioritize solutions to these infrastructure deficits. That’s not a new request, but it gains urgency when you consider how many jobs and how much economic activity depend on women“>women entrepreneurs who currently operate despite the infrastructure rather than because of it.

The NEF President urged women“>women to remain supportive of one another in pursuing their aspirations. He emphasized that collective strength drives progress and encouraged women“>women to share opportunities and maintain positive mindsets while working toward their dreams.

That advice matters in a business environment that often pits entrepreneurs against each other in competition for scarce resources. When infrastructure is reliable and markets are growing, there’s room for everyone. When everything is scarce, collaboration becomes harder but also more essential.

Inegbedion reminded the audience that NEF was established in 2010 to address challenges including unemployment, youth restiveness, underutilized talent, antisocial behavior, rapid population growth, rural-urban migration, and infrastructure deficits.

The Forum focuses on enterprise development, funding support, and business expansion initiatives.

He reaffirmed NEF’s partnership with awep“>AWEP in promoting women“>women’s empowerment through advocacy, entrepreneurial training, and capacity building. The goal is increasing awareness of business opportunities available in Nigeria despite the obstacles.

Dr. Grace Okaro, National President of awep“>AWEP Nigeria, explained that her organization remains dedicated to advancing the vision of economically and politically empowering women“>women to become catalysts for positive change and champions of a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable society.

awep“>AWEP operates across five business clusters: Agriculture and Food Processing, Fashion and Apparel, Hair and Body, Light Manufacturing, and Services. The organization maintains strong representation across all six geopolitical zones, ensuring that support reaches women“>women entrepreneurs in every region.

The 2025 conference featured goodwill messages from notable public and private sector leaders alongside panel sessions, exhibitions, certificate awards to mentees, and the association’s Annual General Meeting. These gatherings serve multiple purposes beyond networking.

They create spaces where women“>women running similar businesses can compare notes on what’s working and what isn’t. They provide mentorship connections between established entrepreneurs and those just starting. 

They build confidence through recognition and shared success stories.

But conferences and training programs can only do so much when basic infrastructure remains broken. You can teach excellent business practices, but those practices can’t overcome 18-hour power outages or roads that destroy delivery vehicles.

The federal government has heard these complaints for years from business associations, economic analysts, and frustrated entrepreneurs. Infrastructure investment requires sustained commitment and massive capital that Nigeria struggles to mobilize.

Yet the cost of inaction keeps mounting. 

Every woman who gives up her business because operating costs become unsustainable represents lost economic activity, lost tax revenue, lost jobs, and lost potential. Multiply that by thousands of businesses across the country, and the national cost becomes staggering.

Nigerian women“>women entrepreneurs have proven they can build successful businesses under extraordinarily difficult conditions. The question is why they should have to.

If infrastructure functioned reliably, these same women“>women could expand faster, employ more people, generate more tax revenue, and contribute more to GDP. The entire economy would benefit from unleashing productivity that currently gets strangled by infrastructure failures.

Dr. Inegbedion’s call for government action echoes similar demands from other business leaders, but coming from the context of women“>women’s entrepreneurship, it highlights how infrastructure deficits disproportionately burden those with the least resources to absorb the shocks.

The women“>women gathered at the awep“>AWEP conference aren’t asking for special treatment. They’re asking for the basic infrastructure that makes normal business operations possible. 

Roads that don’t destroy vehicles. Electricity that runs consistently. Water that flows. Currency that maintains some stability.

These are reasonable requests from entrepreneurs who control 60 percent of Nigeria’s informal sector and make up 41 percent of micro business ownership. Their collective impact on the economy already exceeds what most people recognize. Imagine what it could become with proper infrastructure support.

As the conference concluded and participants returned to their businesses across Nigeria, they carried renewed energy and expanded networks. But they also returned to the same infrastructure challenges that greeted them before they left.

The real test of conferences like this isn’t what happens in the auditorium. 

It’s whether the message reaches policymakers who control infrastructure budgets and whether those policymakers finally decide that supporting women“>women entrepreneurs means fixing the foundational problems that hold them back.