Former Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki has said that empowering female business owners in the country is capable of increasing the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Declaring open a one-day women entrepreneurial training programme organized for Kwara state women by the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Foundation, in partnership with WimBiz, the former Senate President said that the programme offers business owners opportunities to grow their businesses and network for increased profitability.

One of the facilitators at the programme, Linda Uneze, the founder and convener of the Doing Business in Nigeria Conference (DBNC), said that trained and skilled women can increase the nation's GDP.

“Currently, SMEs contribute the largest when it comes to Nigeria's GDP. So, empowering people who have an interest in building business, no matter how small, giving them a platform where they can network, collaborate and have access to the right information, tools, and contacts would help boost their business and increase the nation's GDP”, she said.

Talking on opportunities in the programme, Uneze said that, “Business owners will have the right tools, information, access to capital, access to people that can help them improve their trade and business and increase their profitability and success”.

Represented at the event by the Director of Administration of ABS Foundation, Mrs Fatimoh Malumfashi, the former Senate President, stressed the need to support womenfolk in the country to assist them in achieving their potential for the nation's economic growth.

He said that the training of 106 women on entrepreneurship would also go a long way to address the current economic hardship facing the nation, especially the common men.

“The objective of the training is to address the issue common among women entrepreneurs globally.

“There are certain challenges affecting women entrepreneurs worldwide, preventing women from achieving their potentials.

“So, what we are trying to do is to train women on various entrepreneurial skills that would enable them achieve their desires and potentials in order to boost the economic growth of the society”.

“As a nation, we must strive harder to train women on empowerment to boost their skills .

“So, this training aims to provide them mentorship, networking through technology, digital technology and skill technology and we are going to do this for over 106 women entrepreneurs who are hardworking people to help them achieve their potential for the nation's economic advancement.

“Also, this training is the first step and the foundation and its partner would provide financial support in the subsequent outing to assist the participation in the training to be achieved”.

Saraki, however, urged the participants to see the training as an opportunity, saying that they should be up and doing to assist them in garnering exposure capable of turning their lives for the nation's economic prosperity.

Some of the participants that attended the training programme lauded the ABS Foundation for the opportunity, assuring that they would use the experience garnered at the event to contribute to the nation's economic growth.