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When women succeed, their families and communities succeed too. But when they aren’t equipped to fulfill their potential, societies lose out on the tremendous economic value women create.
Women play vital roles in our communities. Unfortunately, they are also responsible for work that is overlooked and devalued. In addition, women face challenges accessing vital business supports like finance, training, and markets. This limits their ability to develop the skills and find the resources they need to build stronger, more sustainable futures.
In Nigeria, for example, cultural practices prevent some women from interacting in the public space, which means they are unable to go to market to conduct business. As a result, they don’t receive the vital market information needed to make their businesses more responsive to their customers’ needs and they have challenges buying supplies and inputs and selling their own products.
To address these challenges, MEDA’s Nigeria WAY project trained women sales agents, like Ladi, to be the “middle people” (market intermediaries) to provide their peers with up-to-date market information and to assist them with their sales to secure the best possible prices for their products. As a result, women are now equipped at all levels of their own value chain and women business owners are equipped with the information they need to grow their businesses and receive a fair price for their products.
With the right supports, entrepreneurs in the Global South can grow strong and sustainable businesses.
We know that when women succeed, their families and communities succeed too. Together, we can ensure they have what they need to build brighter futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.
“We no longer have to depend on middle-men but can now interact in the market spaces and negotiate directly for our products, which gives us a better price for our products”
— Ladi
MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development Associates – is an international economic development organization that creates business solutions to poverty.
MEDA International is a Canadian non-share capital not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act.
Mennonite Economic Development Associates is a 501(c)(3) status non-profit organization in the United States: EIN 23-7398678. Mennonite Economic Development Associates of Canada is a registered charity in Canada: No. 107 691 057 RR0001.
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