By Mojirayo Ogunlana-Nkanga
There is no gainsaying the fact that there has been a huge and radical transformation of the global trade environment. This is due to the advancement in technology, specifically information and communications technologies (ICT). This has brought about an expansion in the market. We are no longer constrained to physical markets but are now forced to operate and engage in virtual/digital markets. Digital markets are virtual markets, internet-based arenas where demand and supply forces operate, and where sellers and buyers exchange goods and services. This type of market allows for ease of transaction through mobile technologies.
Since the advancement in technology, there’s been an increase in e-commerce and a steady growth of online businesses. Increased technology and newer trends have forced business owners to change their marketing strategies. It is no longer business as usual, especially since the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown. Traders have learned new ways to get their products and services to end users. Smartphones and other digital devices now make it easier for companies to market themselves and their products and services to consumers. Studies have also shown that people prefer using their phones to go online. We now witness a situation where traders promote their products through digital advertisements on platforms, such as social media platforms. This involves digital marketing. Digital marketing is the use of digital channels to market products and services. This usually involves the use of social media links, such as WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc; websites, mobile devices and platforms, search engines, apps, etc.
However, just like in most aspects of life, women are under-represented in the digital economy, and despite the fact that the African continent has the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs in the world- according to the African Development Bank (AFDB) “the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2016/17 Women’s Report(link is external), “the female entrepreneurship rate in sub-Saharan Africa is 25.9% of the female adult population, meaning that one in four women starts or manages a business.”
The Human Rights Council of the UN General Assembly recognised this huge dichotomy between women’s and men’s online presence in its July 2016 resolution[1] and it expressed as follows:
“that many forms of digital divides remain between and within countries and between men and women, boys and girls, and recognizing the need to close them,
Stressing the importance of empowering all women and girls by enhancing their access to information and communications technology, promoting digital literacy and the participation of women and girls in education and training on information and communications technology, and encouraging women and girls to embark on careers in the sciences and information and communications technology,…”
The AFDB noted that “women entrepreneurs face multiple challenges to access finance, with an estimated $42 billion financing gap for African women across business value chains, including $15.6 billion in agriculture alone.
The challenges noted are:
- Finance: lending to women is seen as riskier, so they face prohibitive interest rates. In addition, women often lack traditional collateral and guarantees.
- Capacity: financial institutions lack the capacity to understand and respond appropriately to women entrepreneurs, who also often lack the financial and business acumen to respond to the needs of financial institutions.
- Business environment: in many countries, legal and regulatory frameworks hinder women’s full participation in private sector growth.
These challenges are further exacerbated by accessibility (access to the Internet) and affordability (data) challenges. Examples like access to electricity, technological gadgets, etc.
According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2022, around 46 percent of the male population in Sub-Saharan Africa used the Internet. In contrast, the internet usage rate was lower among women, as approximately 34 percent of the female population used the internet. This was further expounded by the secretary general of ITU, Doreen Bogda Martin, who stated that “there is a wider gap between women in technology in Africa compared to their male counterparts.”
In Nigeria, the CBN recorded that women are under-represented in the financial sector and it went ahead to carry out a gender financial inclusion assessment in 2019, where it established that 60% of women struggle with economic hardship, low income, poor financial education, and low trust in financial institutions. These challenges stand out as the most significant factors contributing to the large financial gender gap in Nigeria.
Another gender gap reality for most women and girls in Nigeria is that they are usually excluded from formal decision-making processes. For example, there’s a low representation of women in politics. For instance, a new National Assembly will be inaugurated sometime in May 2023, and yet again the ratio of men to women is too poor to be considered as representation. According to the UN Women, “studies show higher numbers of women in parliament generally contribute to stronger attention to women’s issues. It facilitates women’s direct engagement in public decision-making and is a means of ensuring better accountability to women.”
Some other difficulties women experience that have increased the gender gap are discrimination and gender-based violence. Female business owners face challenges in accessing the support services they need to grow, such as access to networks, training, financing, and markets. However with digital solutions, women can easily overcome time and mobility constraints by connecting women to work from different locations and in flexible hours through emails, instant messaging, and teleconferences According to the International Finance Corporation, women could add over $300 billion to e-commerce markets alone in Africa and South-East Asia between 2025 and 2030.
In fact, the World Bank in its policy document on “Leveraging ICT Technologies in Closing the Gender Gap” stated that “digital technologies have the potential to empower women socially and economically by creating new employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, removing trade barriers for women, enhancing access to finance and information and optimizing their business processes”
In recent times, the advent of emerging technologies, including automation and artificial intelligence, is redefining the future of jobs, with a particular impact on women. With this continued evolution in the digitalization of the economy, women cannot continue with the same business-as-usual mentality as before the covid-19 pandemic, otherwise, digitalization will not reduce gender gaps, it will increase them.”
How can women leverage the digitalized economic reality?
For anyone to successfully use technology it requires a combination of advertising savvy, sales, and the ability to deliver goods to end-users within the shortest period of time.
To successfully leverage the digital economy through technology, women must be willing to take risks and be adventurous. They must understand that traditional market structures are no longer fashionable and must be ready to embrace change, especially in the face of new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (including automation), robotics, and big data in key trade-related sectors, which stand to transform society and to revolutionize trade, business and industrial production processes.
- Knowledge: Women should invest in self-development. Educate themselves about the new trading models; take advantage of the internet to do research and other opportunities.
- By identifying and taking advantage of existing opportunities, such as grant opportunities, empowerment, networking, and career counseling initiatives. For instance, the ITU is reported to have put in place an initiative to address the gap with women in technology as the organisation mobilized over $28 billion to curb the gender divide currently experienced in Nigeria. There are also opportunities advertised by institutions like the World Bank, AFDB, CBN, UNCTAD, etc.
- Investments: This is women’s opportunity to invest in genuine initiatives and credible offers. For instance, MTN Nigeria reported that in its 2021 initial shareholding public offer that 85 percent of successful applicants were under the age of 40, and 76 percent of those who were accepted, were women. This shows that there’s a rise in women’s participation in investment.
- Increase in political participation so that women can proffer gender-sensitive governance reforms that will make all elected officials more effective at promoting gender equality in public policy and ensuring their implementation.
- Forming communities: collaborations and partnerships are important for women to succeed in this era. In social media business circles this exists in the form of PODS. Pods are social media groupings, usually on Instagram where subscribed members promote each other’s businesses by generating traffic to members’ posts, advertisements, and other content.
- Women traders must be good content creators. The reality in the digital economy is that the business owner must produce content to generate traffic and promote their goods and services. Some women may hire content creators or take advantage of prevailing technologies such as Chat GPT.
- Chain-building: We have often times heard the narrative that “women don’t support women”. However, women can make a strong statement that would phase out this false narrative by being deliberate with building chains of women traders. Solidarity is very important and this involves mentorship. We need old and young women, professionals, and entrepreneurs to commit and be deliberate about mentoring at least annually, five girls from their communities, neighborhood, and old schools, to enable them add to nation-building positively.
- One-on-one coaching: This model has been used for years by Igbo traders. I learnt about this system of apprenticeship and I have always admired the system, where one grows through the ranks. A trader brings on board an apprentice who learns the workings of the business and after having a full grasp, the ‘boss’ establishes a business for the once apprentice, who then becomes a boss and reactivates the cycle.
- Exposing our young ones to digital literacy. They get to learn and discover new technologies and begin to build their future.
Paper delivered at a virtual session of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry held in commemoration of the 2023 International Women’s Day.
REFERENCES
https://guardian.ng/technology/experts-want-women-to-bridge-digital-gap-leverage-tech-for-jobs/
https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/governance/political-participation-of-women
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/digital-marketing.asp
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smartphone.asp
[1] See UN Resolution Supra
