The CBN’s blind spot: National Entrepreneurship Programme fails 99% of self-employed women

The National Entrepreneurship Programme has reached just one percent of self-employed women while failing the neglected 99 percent.

BudgIT’s State of Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria (2025) report reveals the failure in Nigeria’s flagship entrepreneurship support framework, showing that less than one percent of self-employed women across multiple states benefited from the federal Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) between 2020 and 2022.

According to the report, this implies millions of women have been left out without the financial or technical lifelines they need to grow their businesses.

The story contrasts the massive scope of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) programme with its minimal impact on grassroots female entrepreneurs, meaning that a crucial policy discussion on why national financial relief schemes consistently excludes the working poor, especially since women in 29 states comprising above 50 percent of the informal employment population.

The State of Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria (2025) report released by BudgIT on Wednesday evaluates women in agriculture, entrepreneurship, the traditional labour market, emerging industries, and education/skills acquisition.

“Oyo, Kebbi, and Osun recorded beneficiary rates of just 0.32 percent, 0.37 percent and 0.47 percent of their female self-employed populations respectively,” the report stated.

These findings can be described as a systemic breakdown in how entrepreneurship programmes are designed, funded, and delivered to women who make up the majority of Nigeria’s informal workforce.

Despite women forming between 52 percent and 70 percent of informal workers in several states, the federal entrepreneurship pipeline has failed to reach them at scale.

The report cites Oyo State where there are over 1.9 million women working in the informal sector, yet only 4,987 of them received EDP support over a two-year period.

“Osun State recorded a similar trend with 4,422 beneficiaries out of a vast self-employed female population, translating to 0.47 percent coverage.”

The report notes this as a major bottleneck to women’s economic advancement. “With limited access to capital, credit, and market opportunities, most women remain trapped in survival-level enterprises despite driving a significant share of local economies.

“The situation persists even though many states allocate billions to women-focused economic empowerment. Kebbi, for instance, budgeted N2.99 billion in 2024 for grants, credit schemes, and empowerment programmes yet programme reach remains negligible.”

BudgIT warns that unless states overhaul how entrepreneurship schemes are designed and monitored, the federal government’s Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Policy which aims for 60 percent of women entrepreneurs to benefit from MSME financing and digital tools will remain out of reach.

Women are still shut out of land ownership and they make up only 19.6 percent of the agricultural labour force, and just 10 percent own land nationally which are two barriers that restrict their productivity and earnings potential.

The report reveals that many still lack any specific funding or interventions targeted at women farmers while some states introduced new agricultural empowerment programmes.

The weakest pillar nationally is Women in Emerging Industries, which includes technology, digital skills, green jobs, and creative sectors.

Only three states which are Cross River, Kaduna, and Lagos scored in the green zone. Most states remain in red or yellow, with just nine states having any budget line for women in creative industries, and only four states funding STEM training for women and girls.

BudgIT stated that this leaves women poorly positioned for ‘future-ready’ sectors that are shaping global and national labour markets.

Folake Balogun is a renowned tech journalist who offers insightful and critical analysis of the African rapidly growing digital economy, particularly within Nigeria. She closely monitors the health of the African startup ecosystem by covering significant venture capital trends, investment deals, and the challenges faced by emerging firms. Known for her deep dives into the fintech sector, she covers the evolution of digital payments, dynamics of major financial innovations and also extends to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the future of connectivity by providing context to their economic and social impact.

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