Digital Dreams Meet Real Money: How 67,000 Nigerian Women Fought for Just 146 Spots

By: Olalekan Abudu

Back in 2005, digital services were worth maybe a trillion dollars globally. Fast forward to today? We’re talking $4.25 trillion. That’s the kind of explosive growth Okonjo-Iweala was pointing to when she basically said Nigerian women need to grab this opportunity. Now.

Here’s the thing – the WEIDE Fund isn’t throwing money around everywhere. Just four countries made the cut this year. Jordan, Mongolia, the Dominican Republic, and Nigeria. How did Nigeria get in? Pure hustle. Over 600 organizations worldwide were fighting for this, but the Nigerian Export Promotion Council under Mrs. Nonye Ayeni? They brought their A-game.

“This wasn’t about connections or who-knows-who,” Okonjo-Iweala made clear. Nigerians won because they deserved it. Period.

Then came the applications. 67,000 women entrepreneurs. Think about that number for a second. The plan was to pick 100 winners but the applications were so good, they couldn’t help themselves – they picked 146 instead.

The money breaks down like this. Sixteen entrepreneurs in what they’re calling the Booster Track gets up to $30,000 each. Plus 18 months of hand-holding and technical support. The other 130? They’re in the Discovery Track – $5,000 each and a year of business guidance. These women are doing everything. Fashion, IT, agriculture, beauty products, manufacturing. You name it.

“They are the heartbeat of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial energy,” Okonjo-Iweala said, and she wasn’t exaggerating.

But here’s where it gets complicated. The government’s pumping $2 billion into fiber optic projects – great news, right? Except none of it matters without electricity. “No nation can truly digitise without steady power,” she warned. More than half of Nigerians are still offline. Just 45 percent connected versus the global average of 67 percent.

The ICT sector’s booming – contributing 18 percent to GDP now compared to less than 4 percent in 2001. Yet women own only 30 percent of tech firms. Nigeria ranks 128th out of 148 countries on gender gap measures. Ouch.

Okonjo-Iweala isn’t mincing words about what needs to happen. This isn’t charity – its smart economics. She’s worried about policies like customs duties on digital trade that could strangle these small businesses before they even get started. “Micro and small businesses, especially those run by women, will lose one of their best pathways into global markets,” she said.

To the 146 winners, her message was simple but powerful. Dream bigger. Scale higher. “When I return in two years, I want to see how many more people you’ve hired, how many new markets you’ve reached.”

The bottom line? When women succeed, everyone wins. Communities thrive. Economies grow.

This isn’t just feel-good stuff. It’s economic reality.