A non-governmental organisation, Women Liberation and Transformation Group (W-LIT) has urged the state government to organise more digital training programmes to enlighten women and boost their businesses. The Executive Director of W-LIT, Mrs Olanike Mic-Taiwo, made the call), on Wednesday at a meeting of market women at Ayobo/Ipaja, Lagos, to celebrate the 2023 International Women’s Day (IWD).
The 2023 IWD has the theme: “Digital Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”. The meeting, which was subgranted by Women Advocate Research and Documentation Center (WARDC), was funded by Ford Foundation. She said that learning digital skills would not only boost their businesses online but also help them manage crisis such as the cash crunch issues faced in Nigeria currently.
Mic-Taiwo said that the cashless policy currently going on in the country was a call for business women to embrace technology. “I applaud the cashless policy happening in Nigeria due to cash crunch; it is not a misfortune but rather an opportunity for business women to upgrade themselves and their businesses technologically. “If we have been practising the cashless policy before now and everyone in the chain of business transactions is technologically upgraded, we will not be complaining about reduction in sales and transportation while other hardships won’t arise. “Also, if the cashless policy has long been embraced, banks would have tackled inconsistent network issues and online bank transactions would have been seamless, “she said. She added that banks should issue POS machines to market women and allow them pay in instalments in order for them to thrive well with the cashless policy. MIC- Taiwo urged the market women to also get bank token as a further way of protecting their business accounts, adding that they should separate their personal accounts from the business one. Speaking on using online spaces, she said the women should explore social media to enhance their businesses, adding that they could use it to further advertise their products to the masses.