Many women struggle as small retailers in Nigeria as they lack the financial resources, business knowledge, and support needed to grow their businesses.
This often means that women in rural areas are often unable to grow small shops into sustainable ventures due to the lack of access to financial funding and business growth opportunities.
To address this issue, Nestlé Nigeria Plc began its Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria initiative back in August 2021. The aim being to give female retailers the necessary resources to improve their businesses.
This started with just 50 women in Abuja, but has now grown to include 482 women entrepreneurs in August 2026.
Women will be given up to three times the amount of Nestlé products they usually sell monthly. They will also be given training on book keeping, merchandising, stock control and customer service. Mentorship will also be provided.
This is very important as it helps with many issues women entrepreneurs face including low working capital, poor business management skills and a lack of guidance.
Unlike offering financial support, this initiative aims to provide women with resources and real life business knowledge.
The initiative has continued to grow and in July 2025 Nestlé helped 49 female retailers in Agbara, Ogun state. This was different to the previous iterations of the programme as the women were nominated by their community. They received Nestlé products worth ₦200,000, business training and mentorship.
In August 2026, Nestlé celebrated the 5th anniversary and 10th iteration of the scheme. This included 50 women retailers from Zaria, Kaduna state. They received business training and product grants of three times the amount of stock they currently have. They then received three months of mentorship.
Nestlé found that over 80% of women who took part in previous batches have been able to sustain and grow their businesses.
This is very important as we need to ensure women can truly be empowered by seeing if they can continue to grow their businesses.
The programme also acknowledges the importance of women in the retail sector of Nigeria. Boladale Odunlami, Commercial Manager for Nestlé Nigeria said “Approximately 60% of our retailers within our retail network are women.”
These small businesses not only help to sell products but also connect manufacturers to customers, provide an income to families and contribute to local economies.
This shows how investing in women entrepreneurs can benefit them.
However, we should also look at how successful these initiatives are in the long term by looking at independent evidence that shows women have been able to sustain their businesses, increase income, improve household welfare and employ others.
Empowering women means ensuring they are able to continue to be economically independent. Nestlé Nigeria are helping to do this through their Empowering Rural Women initiative.