Ifeoma
How is your country, region, or community reacting to COVID-19?
Following the [early days of the] COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria went under lockdown in April and what was supposed to be a 2-week lockdown became months with little-to-no economic activity. In a country, in which most of the economy is powered by the activities of micro, small, medium enterprises (MSME), it was emotional to watch stores and other businesses shut down and also lay off employees.
In a poor nation like Nigeria, the majority of people live from hand-to-mouth and depend on menial wages obtained from their daily labour to feed themselves and their families. The shutdown meant that people could not leave their homes to perform their daily tasks; as a result, the poverty problem was further exacerbated in many communities.
Women and girls were disproportionality affected. In fact, more cases of gender-based violence, sexual violence, unplanned/unwanted pregnancies, and early/child marriage were reported during the lockdown.
Tell us exactly how the pandemic has affected you as an entrepreneur.
As a company that provides loans to female entrepreneurs, the pandemic impacted our loan repayment rate, as well as our expansion plans.
Personally, I struggled with balancing my responsibilities as a wife and mother of three young children aged 2 - 5, while also leading a team of 7 staff. My experience made me understand why lockdowns can drag more women into poverty. My purpose in life is to empower more women and provide them with the tools and resources they need to live their lives on their terms. As a response to the challenges women faced during the lockdown, I set up a project called the “COVID-19 Rebuild Initiative”. This project is targeted at providing women with digital skills and business advisory services to help them strategize and recover post-COVID.
Through this initiative, we offered about 700 women digital upskill training to help them generate income while at home. The skills training focused on high demand skills such as voiceover, design, and illustration. We later learned that many women did not own a personal computer or laptop, or they owned computers that were very slow and inefficient, thereby negatively impacting their productivity. In direct response to this, we launched a “One Woman, One Laptop” initiative to drive more women to own laptops.
For our business advisory services for women-led enterprises looking to move forward post-pandemic, we provided advisory support for women looking to pivot, shut down, or expand their business.
Personally, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an awakening. It has confirmed that there remain severe socio-economic barriers that restrict women from achieving financial independence. I am happy to have created a finance company that understands these challenges that women face and provides personalized financial services to help women become all they can be!
Ifeoma Uddoh is the founder of Shecluded PLC, a growth finance company for women headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria which provides services to women across various African countries. You may reach out to her personally via LinkedIn or check out what Shecluded is all about at shecluded.com. As of November 2020, GirlTable, Inc. and Shecluded PLC have engaged (and will continue to engage) in collaborative activities that empower the women in our respective communities.
Learn more about our current collaboration >> GirlTable Promo | Shecluded Promo