Women leaders, entrepreneurs, and business executives from across the world will converge in Lagos on Monday for the maiden African edition of the Women in Management global economic forum, with a call for greater access to finance, markets and economic decision-making for African women.
The two-day conference, organized by Women in Management Africa, will hold from 10-11 November, 2026, at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, under the theme, ‘The Power Shift: Women Driving Africa’s Global Economic Influence.’
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, ahead of the event, the Chairperson of WIMAFRICA, Dr Ngozi Oyewole, said the organisation sought to move women beyond participation in economic activities to positions where they could influence business decisions, trade and the allocation of resources.
Oyewole, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Industrial Training Fund and founder of Commonwealth Business Women Africa, said African women already contributed significantly to manufacturing, agriculture, trade and entrepreneurship but lacked adequate access to capital, markets and decision-making platforms.
“The power shift is about where women make decisions, especially economic decisions as they affect them. African women are already holding up local markets and participating in different trades. What we are doing is amplifying what they have been doing and ensuring that they take the right decisions about what they produce and how they utilise their productive capacities,” she said.
She said the conference would explore opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area, particularly in local manufacturing, backward integration and the development of African supply chains.
Oyewole stressed that women-owned businesses must become more involved in manufacturing and investment rather than remain largely confined to trading and other economic activities.
She identified limited access to finance, inadequate infrastructure, poor understanding of AfCFTA procedures, cultural restrictions and land ownership challenges as major obstacles to women’s economic advancement across Africa.
The WIMAFRICA chairperson said many women-owned businesses struggled to secure working capital despite having confirmed purchase orders because they lacked funds to procure raw materials, pay workers and meet production costs before receiving payments from customers.
She urged financial institutions to develop financing products that reflected the operational needs of women-owned enterprises, particularly manufacturers and small businesses.
Oyewole also called on government agencies and corporate organisations to improve access to procurement opportunities for qualified women-owned businesses and ensure prompt payment for completed contracts.
She said government policies on women’s economic inclusion should be assessed by the number of women-owned businesses that secured contracts and how quickly they received payment.
On continental trade, she said many women entrepreneurs lacked practical knowledge of AfCFTA’s rules of origin, documentation requirements and procedures for accessing cross-border markets.
