The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has said it will be launching a new mobile phone service in partnership with Nokia and MTN Nigeria to help women looking to grow their small-scale enterprises in Nigeria.
The new service dubbed Business Women will be an SMS-based system that will provide valuable information on business management such as advice on working with traders to women in business, to help them manage their businesses better.
The women will in addition receive information on how to improve distribution channels, the steps required to register a business in Nigeria and how to tap into valuable business networks.
According to the Cherie Blair Foundation, women enter entrepreneurs from across the globe need accessible finances, business skills, networks and technology for long-term sustenance.
The Foundation says it provides support in these four key areas to enable women to grow their businesses and create employment opportunities.
Customers who opt into this service will receive four to five text messages with business tips per week. They will also have the option of taking a weekly multiple-choice quiz to test what they have learned throughout the week.
The foundation also plans to introduce a project that will provide hands-on-business skills training to over 2,000 women in business in the country, in partnership with the Youth for Technology Foundation.
The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women was set up in September 2008 to provide women with the necessary skills needed to become successful business owners.
With mobile penetration in Africa closing to 700 million subscribers, the foundation aims to use this as an easiest way to reach women in Nigeria who own over 30 percent of Nigeria’s registered businesses.
