MTN Foundation, UN Women Target 200 Rural Women

MTN Foundation and UN Women have partnered to expand economic opportunities for more than 200 rural women entrepreneurs in Kano and Cross River states through agriculture and digital financial inclusion.

The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding under the Foundation’s Y’ellopreneur Initiative, will provide beneficiaries with entrepreneurship and agricultural training, digital financial tools, market access and modern processing infrastructure to strengthen their businesses and increase their incomes.

The initiative will support women operating across the rice value chain in Kano and the cassava and seafood value chains in Cross River.

It builds on MTN Foundation’s investment of more than ₦1.2 billion in women-owned businesses since 2022, which has empowered over 6,099 peri-urban women entrepreneurs across Nigeria.

Under the new programme, beneficiaries will be onboarded onto MoMo PSB’s digital financial platform and linked to a digital marketplace connecting them with institutional buyers.

They will also have access to modern processing facilities powered by climate-friendly biogas technology, aimed at improving productivity, reducing post-harvest losses and strengthening the competitiveness of their businesses.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, MTN Foundation Executive Director, Odunayo Sanya, said empowering women remained critical to building resilient communities and supporting Nigeria’s economic growth.

Sanya said the partnership with UN Women would extend the Y’ellopreneur Initiative to rural women whose contributions to agriculture were vital to the country’s economy.

She said the programme would combine skills development, digital inclusion and improved market access to create sustainable opportunities for beneficiaries and their communities.

Also speaking, UN Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong, said rural women remained central to agricultural production and community development but were often excluded from digital systems that increasingly determine access to economic opportunities and essential services.

Eyong said the initiative would help women make informed choices about their future while advancing their economic empowerment.

Representing the Acting Chief Executive Officer of MoMo PSB, Omolara Michael-Nwadu, the Head of Internal Audit and Forensics at MoMo PSB, Howard Edafe, said the company remained committed to extending financial inclusion to underserved communities.

He said MoMo PSB’s objective was to ensure that people in even the remotest parts of Nigeria could participate in the formal financial system.

Beneficiaries will be selected through a community-based process coordinated by UN Women in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including the Ministries of Women Affairs and Agriculture and community structures in the participating states.

The partners said the initiative was designed to provide a scalable model for advancing women’s economic empowerment while strengthening agricultural and processing value chains in rural communities.