Lagos State Govt, Access Bank Aim To Empower Women Entrepreneurs Through ‘LSTF W-INITIATIVE’

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Bola Dapo-Thomas, has disclosed that the partnership between the Lagos State Government and Access Bank, through the State Employment Trust Fund, was aimed at giving women entrepreneurs leverage in the labour market.

According to the Permanent Secretary, the “LSTF W-Initiative” was recently launched by the Governor to facilitate the development and growth of female entrepreneurs in the State, adding that the initiative will make N10 billion available for women entrepreneurs in Lagos State to grow their businesses and consequently create employment for youth.

Speaking at a Leadership and Economic Workshop themed: “Empowered To Break Frontiers”, organized by the Redeemed Christian Church Of God, Dapo-Thomas averred that the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment had deployed a range of intervention activities to tackle unemployment, promote job creation, entrepreneurship and skill development in the State

She disclosed that the state government has initiated a lot of policies and programmes for the support of Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs), adding that these activities are targeted at every Lagosian irrespective of gender, religion or tribe with a commitment to ensure that at least 50% of the beneficiaries are women.

Dapo-Thomas said the present administration recently celebrated some successful applicants and beneficiaries of the Lagos State Trust Fund loan Programmes, adding that over 10,753 entrepreneurs have been assisted with N7.5 billion in the last four years which has resulted in the creation of 96, 142 jobs.

In her words, “As of August 2019, LSTF has supported a total of 16,145 businesses and individuals under the Entrepreneurship Loan, Employability and Lagos Innovates Programmes; 10, 645 MSMEs were supported under the Entrepreneurship Loan Programme; 5,403 individuals received training and are certified under the Employability Programme, and 97 start-ups received workspace vouchers under the Lagos Innovates Programme”.

The afore-mentioned employment and empowerment intervention policies of the Lagos State Government, according to the Permanent Secretary, have significantly impacted job creation in the State and the country as a whole, stressing that the recent Labour Force Report by the National Bureau of Statistics indicated a 6.7% drop in the unemployment rate due to the 740,146 new jobs created in the third quarter of 2018 by the State.

“The State Government, through LSETF has supported over 1,000 businesses in promoting their goods and services to domestic and international markets. A total of 51% of loan beneficiaries are women, 49% of certified graduates under the Employability Programme are also women”, Dapo-Thomas added.

She informed participants at the gathering that the LSETF has been decentralized and now has presence in all the local government offices in the State to ensure easy access and to promote equitable distribution of resources and proper inclusiveness.

She listed some of the programmes organized by the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment to support SMEs to include Entrepreneurship Skill Acquisition/Development Programmes, the introduction of Virtual Market for Artisans, ANDELA training for youths and collaboration with Betti-O School of Fashion, powered by Ruff N Tumble among several others.

“The present administration is passionate about tackling the scourge of unemployment in the state especially amongst the young population. This is critical to achieving the vision of a ‘Greater Lagos’, The Lagos of our Dreams’, ‘Making Lagos a 21st Century City’ in line with the ‘THEMES’ framework. A place all residents of Lagos can proudly call home and find confidence in building a future for their children,” the Permanent Secretary restated.