Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu: From Grants to Growth – Empowering Nigerian Women
Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, UICC President-Elect of 2024-2026 and a Founder of the Medicaid Cancer Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
”Last week in Abuja, the World Trade Organization launched the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund, a $50 million initiative to empower women entrepreneurs and foster their participation in digital economy.
Nigerian women own around 40% of micro, small, and medium enterprises but still face barriers in scaling and accessing global markets. This has direct implications for health equity. Data shows that women with stable income streams direct a significant share of resources toward healthcare and education, improving family health outcomes. The World Bank notes that a 10% increase in women’s income can result in up to 20% higher household spending on health and education.
I joined the launch, alongside the wife of the Vice President, who represented the First Lady. A batch of 146 Nigerian women entrepreneurs were presented with grants ranging from $5000 to $30,000, along with technical assistance.
As First Lady of Kebbi State, empowering women was a governmental priority. We gave 3,000 women loans to support small businesses under the Kebbi State Women Cooperative. Although repayment of loans was poor, the fund stimulated rural communities, created short-term income and had a positive impact on development parameters. Later programs that included financial literacy, like the WAB supported Nigeria Women, produced more sustainable results. The NFW program has now been scaled up with refunding of $500M, following the success recorded in pilot states, like Kebbi.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala DG of the WTO, emphasized that ‘digital trade is reshaping the global economy. Women, including those in developing countries, must be at the forefront.’ She expressed concern that despite progress in economic empowerment, the gender gap is widening, mainly as a result of poor political participation. Nigeria now ranks 143rd out of 144 countries for women’s political participation.
Furthermore, the 2025 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report, scored Nigeria 0.036 in the political empowerment category. This is the country’s worst performance in the past 5 years, and brackets with hardline countries like Afghanistan and Cambodia. No doubt, patriarchal dominance has a ripple effect on women’s health. As a Champion at the WEF women forum, I’m pleased WEIDE fund aligns with global priorities for inclusive growth, where women are recognized as partners in shaping economic transformation.
Whilst extending appreciation to the WTO, International Trade Centre, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and all partners; I end by calling on stakeholders to support the ‘Reserved Seats Bill’, currently before the Nigerian National Assembly. As stated by Melinda French Gates and other leaders, ‘A woman with a voice, is by definition, a strong woman.”’
More posts featuring Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu.
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ESMO 2024 Congress
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ASCO Annual Meeting
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Yvonne Award 2024
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OncoThon 2024, Online
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Global Summit on War & Cancer 2023, Online
Dec. 14-16, 2023