The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has described the launch of the National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC)’s Guarantee Her Framework as a landmark intervention aimed at dismantling long-standing barriers preventing Nigerian women entrepreneurs from accessing finance.
Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the official unveiling of the gender-inclusive credit guarantee initiative, the Minister said the framework represents “a deliberate correction of one of the most expensive misalignments in our economy.”
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“It is not just another product but a deliberate correction of one of the most expensive misalignments in our economy. And I’m proud to stand with you as you make this happen,” she declared.
Backing her position with data, Sulaiman-Ibrahim noted that although 83 per cent of Nigerian women consider themselves entrepreneurs, only 23 per cent of women-owned businesses have access to formal credit, despite evidence showing women consistently outperform men in loan repayment.
“Women are not the risk the market has treated them as. Data has shown that Nigerian women entrepreneurs are up to two and a half times less likely to default on a loan than the men… the creditworthiness was never in doubt; the access was. We’re not managing a risk; we’re just mispricing an opportunity,” she said.
The Minister commended the NCGC for designing a framework that combines credit guarantees with concessional first-loss capital, technical assistance, and gender-disaggregated monitoring to expand financial inclusion.
“What we do not measure by gender, we cannot fix for our women. And what we do not track, we cannot properly invest in,” she emphasised.
She said the initiative’s ambition to mobilise over ₦100 billion for more than 20,000 women-owned enterprises, while supporting an estimated 150,000 jobs, aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the administration’s commitment to women’s economic empowerment.
Highlighting areas of collaboration, the Minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs would leverage its Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up, which has organised over one million women into more than 38,000 registered savings and enterprise groups that have collectively mobilised over ₦10 billion.
“These are verified, organised, credit-ready women. They form a critical component of the ideal pipeline of GuaranteeHer,” she said.
She also cited the Renewed Hope Social Impact Intervention across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas and the Federal Government’s affirmative procurement policy as additional platforms for creating bankable women-led enterprises.
Addressing financial institutions and development partners, Sulaiman-Ibrahim urged stakeholders to seize the opportunity created by the framework.
“Guarantee” has removed your excuses. The risk has been shared, the women have been proved, and the pipeline does exist. What remains is your decision to act,” she stated.
The Minister stressed that empowering women economically delivers far-reaching social and economic benefits, noting that, according to the World Bank, eliminating barriers to women’s economic participation could add 229 billion dollars to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product by 2030.
she reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to the initiative, expressing confidence that Nigerian women would soon be recognised not as underserved but as unstoppable.
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