As at February 2017, BBC, in a news report stated that “Nigeria has the highest number of female entrepreneurs in the world, as forty percent of Nigerian women are entrepreneurs, which is higher than anywhere else in the world,” the report said.
The emphasis on small scale and subsistence entrepreneurship for women is gradually fading away and to replace it is a more daring and relentless form of female entrepreneurship.
Here are 6 Nigerian women who are thriving in the entrepreneurial scene:
- Linda Ikeji Linda began working at the age of 17, working jobs as waitressing and ushering to modelling and bartending. She started modelling in 1998 and worked as a fashion columnist for a struggling celebrity magazine. In 2006, she started blogging as a hobby. At that time, the internet was not as prominent in Nigeria and she had to make her posts at a cyber-cafe. Before starting her popular blog lindaikeji.com, Linda had tried her hands at starting her own media company, a modelling agency and events management outfit. Linda Ikeji was the biggest Google Search trend in Nigeria for 2014 and currently is the highest paid blogger in Nigeria.
- Bilikiss Adebiyi Bilikiss Adebiyi is a Nigerian businesswoman and founder of WeCyclers. Wecyclers is a Lagos-based company which mainly focuses on recycling waste and cleaning up neighborhoods through a recycling program. She first came up with the idea for a recycling business in her second year of her Masters programme at MIT, where she was studying waste as her specialist subject. Wecyclers collects recyclable waste items like plastic bottles, aluminum cans and plastic sachets from thousands of low-income households in Lagos, after which the contributors receive points via SMS, which can then be exchanged for rewards like food products, blenders, bowls, mobile recharge cards, and a whole lot more.
- Stephanie Obi CEO of ST HUB Limited, she is popularly referred to as the Queen of Online Courses, as she helps women entrepreneurs create, launch and sell online courses. She has an online business school, Steph B-School, that teaches women entrepreneurs how to get more customers online. Through her website, www.stephanieobi.com, she has reached over 82,000 people in over 10 countries. She has also been recognised as one of the 100 most inspiring women in Nigeria, and won First Prize at the Wimbiz Impact Investment Competition.
- Yasmin Belo-Osagie Yasmin Belo-Osagie is the co-founder of She Leads Africa (SLA), a Nigeria-based social enterprise that equips female entrepreneurs in Africa with the knowledge, network, and financing needed to build and scale strong businesses. In 2015, Belo-Osagie took five female entrepreneurs to China to meet with successful women entrepreneurs and China-based investors interested in Africa. While continuing to grow She Leads Africa, Belo-Osagie is also pursuing a joint JD/MBA from Harvard Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
- Yemisi Odusanya ‘Sisi Yemmie’ as she is popularly called is a lifestyle blogger at Sisiyemmie.com , she is also a photographer and a vlogger (Sisi Yemmie TV) and the editor of Cosmopolitan Nigeria which is an online magazine and a part of Cosmopolitan worldwide. She studied Mass Communication at the tertiary level, and has a MA in International Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham. She started blogging in 2009 after being encouraged by her boyfriend to start a blog. Sisi Yemmie’s blog covers topics ranging from beauty, food , relationships , reviews and her life as a mom & wife. She currently has over 40,000 followers on her instagram page and over 30,000 subscribers on her Youtube channel.
- Ola Orekunrin Dr. Ola Orekunrin is a medical doctor, helicopter pilot and the founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s first Air Ambulance Service. She's dedicated to bringing trauma care to the most remote parts of Western Africa. She was motivated to start the company after her younger sister tragically died whilst traveling in Nigeria as a consequence of there being no medical air service available to transport her to hospital. She is considered a national expert of disaster medicine and pre-hospital care in Nigeria. Her company has been featured on various local TV and radio stations as well as the BBC and CNN.
With these few profiles, it is evident that the female entrepreneurs of Nigeria are definitely here, and here to stay.
