In her report highlighting the impact of women on Nigeria’s economic development, Andrew Nevin, The Advisory Partner and Chief Economist of PwC Nigeria reported that women account for 41% of micro-enterprise ownership in Nigeria, with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating in this segment.
The strong entrepreneurial spirit of women undoubtedly makes them a major force in the contribution of the micro-enterprise sector to Nigeria’s GDP.
According to reports, 90% of retail market transactions in Nigeria are estimated at $100 billion, of which the food and consumer goods retail market alone is worth around $40 billion.
Adewale Opaleye, Founder and Managing Director of leading B2B e-commerce platform Alerzo, once hailed women’s contribution to socio-economic growth in Nigeria. Her perspective on bringing women into the micro business segment is inspired by her mother who was a shop owner.
He experienced firsthand the challenges that his mother, like other traders, faced in running her business – issues with inventory management, access to capital, logistics, and more. – which seemed endless.
His later studies in China and how the country used technology to solve similar problems inspired him to take on business challenges in Nigeria using the same technology. This is how Alerzo was born.
Today, the majority of micro-business owners on the Alerzo platform are women. The main objective of B2B e-commerce companies like Alerzo is to help micro-business owners supply their stores with original and quality products directly from manufacturers and distributors, delivering the products to them for free, helping them overcome most of the associated challenges. with their business.
Micro business owners in general no longer have to deal with most of the issues that affect their profitability and ease of doing business, changing the landscape for them one delivery at a time.
With its delivery services, retailers save time, energy and resources that they would otherwise spend on restocking.
These benefits have enabled 85% of retailers on Alerzo’s platform to reduce their replenishment trips to zero from two to four times per week. This further transforms the business of all informal retailers on the platform.
With B2B e-commerce bringing continuous improvement to the way retailers, including women, run their businesses, the importation of women into the micro-enterprise sector and overall economic growth cannot be undermined.
