CASHLESS: ORGANIZATION TRAINS WOMEN ON TRADE ENHANCEMENTS TO COUNTER ECONOMIC CRUNCH
By Uchenna Eletuo (07031241955)
Lagos, March 15, 2023 (NAN) A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Greenspring Development Initiative (GDI) on Wednesday trained Makoko Lagos women on ways to enhance trade in the subsisting cashless economic crunch.
The training, conducted at the palace of the traditional ruler of the community, was in commemoration of the 2023 International Women’s Day that its celebration began on March 8.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos reports that the theme of the celebration was “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.
It reports that the women drawn from the informal sector, were trained on how to form micro clusters of uniform items traders to enable them buy stocks in bulk as a unit from dealers and make purchases through online cash transfer then distribute stocks to individual petty traders to sell to their customers.
It reports that the women made up fish sellers and other sellers of daily consumables; were introduced to cheaper or no interest charged cash transfer platforms to enable them make profit and not ripped-off by interest on cash transfers involved in today’s trading.
Speaking at the event, Founder and the Executive Director of GDI, Mrs Mekwuye Olabisi said the programme was to aid the women overcome the challenges of the cashless economy in the country.
Olabisi decried the acrimony the cashless economy was having on the bond of the family, charged the mothers to brace up to the new normal and be self-reliant and not to be dependent on the man.
According to her, the situation has led to domestic violence in many homes where the man is not able to provide for all the needs of the family that daily rely on him for up-keep.
“If the women has something to do, it will go a long way in complementing the man in the up-keep of the home, thereby prevent incidents of domestic violence that seems to have become rampant in the society.
“GDI and its partner, the Ford Foundation and the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) through such programmes has been on the vanguard for economic empowerment of local women to enhance their well-being.
“If the women are not exposed to trainings such as this, the little capital they are trading with might finish on transactions with pocket unfriendly interests,” she said.
The women advocate frowned at men that batter women at the slightest provocations; tasked men for support for women to enable them contribute to welfare of the family.
Also speaking at the event, a Community Response Team (CRT) member that mobilises the women, Mrs Bunki Momodu, said the programme has bonded the women in business co-operation to make even.
The women crusader said that the programme would help cut down on expenses in daily trading and refocus the women on business opportunities that pays better than ones they were into.
(NAN) www.nannews.ng
