This November, Femme Africa are introducing In Her Bag – A Business Fund powered by Flutterwave, open to young business women aged 18 to 35. Our shared goal is to empower and support female entrepreneurs with the financial and social capital to nurture their businesses and cultivate their business leadership skills. 

As a female-owned business ourselves, we at Femme Africa understand the different challenges many entrepreneurs face when it comes to scaling up their business. That’s why we’ve partnered with leading fintech powerhouse, Flutterwave, to give female entrepreneurs who own small and medium-sized businesses across Nigeria the opportunity to grow.

Welcoming businesses spanning various sectors – including fashion, beauty, retail, and other creative industries – Femme Africa and Flutterwave will take five female entrepreneurs on an immersive 5-day program packed with training from industry leaders. 

This transformative journey includes masterclasses in branding and storytelling, funding for sale, community building, and e-commerce, facilitated by Yewande Akomolafe-Kalu, Dolapo Morgan, Tobi Hamilton, Onyedikachim Nwankwo, respectively. 

Selected participants will gain invaluable knowledge, refine their business strategies, enhance their leadership skills and also have a chance to win a grant of 4 million Naira shared among the lucky winners.

Speaking on her motivations to curate this initiative, Femme Africa’s Programs Manager, Toluwaleke Subair says, “In Her Bag embodies our unwavering belief in the boundless potential of Nigerian women to continually take up space and pioneer new ground.” 

She continues, “This program is a continuation of Femme Africa’s commitment to equipping the women in our community with the right knowledge, resources, and support to not just thrive in their businesses but to innovate, scale, lead, and become trailblazers in their respective industries.”

Commenting on the sponsorship, Mathieu Limousi, VP of Marketing, Flutterwave says, “We are excited to be supporting the Femme Africa team on this inspiring initiative. The goal is that together, we will make dreams come true and pave the way for a brighter, more inclusive future.” 

He continues, “as we’ve always done, our mission at Flutterwave is to continue to empower and uplift small scale entrepreneurs by providing the financial and social capital they need to thrive in their businesses.”

Calling all women-founded businesses registered in Nigeria for at least 12 months, applications for In Her Bag opens on the 10th of November, you can register via the application portal, registrations to close on the 17th. 

In partnership with Flutterwave, our applicants must be using the Flutterwave payment gateway for business transactions. So you either use the Flutterwave store, or you have the Flutterwave API integrated into your website or e-commerce platform. 

If you are not registered on Flutterwave, you can do so here. The winning applicants will be selected by a panel of established business owners in their fields.