Sterling Bank, through its OneWoman initiative, has intensified its efforts to dismantle the structural and systemic hurdles preventing female entrepreneurs from accessing formal credit, pledging a massive N500bn in funding by 2030.
During the “Funding Her Future” Breakfast Dialogue held in Lagos, the bank convened a diverse assembly of development finance institutions, ecosystem leaders, and business stakeholders to address a financing gap estimated by the International Finance Corporation at $42bn annually for Nigerian women.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, emphasised that the current economic climate demands a shift from mere advocacy to scalable, commercially sound financial interventions. Speaking through the Chief Growth Officer, Edward Ogunmekan, Suleiman stated that the gathering was designed to move beyond intention and into action.
“Today is about going further. It is about turning shared belief into shared action,” Suleiman noted. “How do we expand access to meaningful finance for women-led businesses in a way that is scalable, sustainable, and commercially sound?”
He further explained that the OneWoman initiative was built on the conviction that real prosperity is achieved by backing sectors with high potential, identifying capital, capacity, and community as the three pillars essential for women to scale with resilience. Despite the significant contribution of women-led micro, small and medium enterprises to the national economy, the rejection rates for loan applications remain disproportionately higher for women than for men.
Head of the OneWoman Initiative, Ezinne Nwokafor, highlighted that the majority of Nigerian women remain excluded from formal credit due to deep-seated issues such as gaps in asset ownership, social norms, and limited visibility in financial data.
“Sterling’s OneWoman initiative is positioned to bridge this gap by combining financial solutions, mentorship, capacity building, and community support for women across different stages of their journey,” Nwokafor stated.
She noted that while women account for a substantial share of MSMEs, they continue to face systemic barriers that limit their ability to secure the necessary funding to grow their enterprises. In response to these challenges, Sterling’s OneWoman initiative is already delivering measurable results; during 2025 alone, the initiative disbursed N43.9bn in loans to 2,450 female entrepreneurs and provided specialised training to 6,000 women.
Looking toward the future, the bank’s Vision 2030 aims to amplify this impact tenfold, targeting a total of one million women with a N500bn credit facility.
“Women-led businesses need the right support systems, the right networks, and the right ecosystem to grow with confidence and scale with resilience,” Suleiman added.
The Divisional Head of Commercial Banking, Akporee Idenedo, concluded the dialogue by reiterating that building skills and strengthening capacity remain the bank’s core strategy for creating a sustainable and inclusive financial ecosystem that empowers women to contribute more meaningfully to Nigeria’s economic progress.
The $42bn annual financing gap cited by the IFC represents a massive untapped economic opportunity. In Nigeria, women are often held back by traditional collateral requirements, such as land titles, which are statistically more likely to be held by men.
Sterling Bank’s focus on “systemic barriers” indicates a move toward “Gender-Lens Investing”, where creditworthiness is determined by business cash flow and social capital rather than just physical assets. This shift is essential for moving women from the informal shadow economy into the formal banking sector.
