Nigeria’s SheIsIncluded initiative has concluded its 2026 summit and is now moving into implementation, backed by a national delivery model designed to bring 10 million women within reach of skills and economic opportunity.

The development was disclosed in a press statement issued on Thursday, August 20, by the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI) and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

The two-day summit, held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja under the theme "Designing for Delivery: Financing. Systems. Scale," brought together government leaders, development partners, financial institutions and private-sector organisations to strengthen the systems required to expand economic opportunity for Nigerian women.

The gathering marked the second edition of SheIsIncluded, following the inaugural 2025 summit that culminated in the adoption of the Aso Accord, a stakeholder commitment to advancing women's economic and financial inclusion through coordinated action.

Wie das Umsetzungsmodell funktioniert

Im Zentrum des Umsetzungsmodells der Initiative steht Ubuntu Tribe, der Umsetzungs- und Technologiepartner von SheIsIncluded. Die Plattform ermöglicht es Frauen, sich anzumelden, in ihrer lokalen Sprache über das bereits vorhandene Telefon eine praktische, arbeitsrelevante Fähigkeit zu erlernen und ein überprüfbares Zertifikat zu erhalten, das Arbeitgeber und Finanzinstitute anerkennen können. Die Schulung ist für teilnehmende Frauen kostenlos.

The mobile-first design is pointed at a specific Nigerian reality: broadband reach remains limited outside major cities even as the Nigerian Communications Commission counts more than 200 million active mobile subscriptions nationwide. The GSMA has separately documented that women across low- and middle-income countries, Nigeria included, are less likely than men to use mobile internet — context that frames why a local-language, phone-based delivery model is notable.

"For too long, women have largely been beneficiaries of intervention programmes. What we want now is to economically empower them so they become co-creators of prosperity," said Hon. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development.

Dr Nurudeen Zauro, Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion and Secretary of PreCEFI, described the summit as a turning point. "The summit marks a decisive transition from policy conversations to practical implementation," he said.

Eine anhaltende Inklusionslücke

The urgency behind SheIsIncluded is rooted in a persistent gap. Only 47% of Nigerian women hold formal bank accounts, compared with 58% of men. The pattern mirrors the account-ownership gender gap tracked in the World Bank's Global Findex database, and closing it has been a formal national objective since the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2012. PreCEFI itself was constituted in 2025 to accelerate that delivery agenda across government. Vice President Kashim Shettima, speaking at the summit, described women's financial inclusion not as charity, but as an economic growth strategy.

As part of broader efforts to close the gap, the Federal Government is targeting 4.5 million women through the expanded Nigeria for Women Programme, whose scale-up the World Bank backed with $500 million in additional financing approved in 2024, while national digital skills initiatives have already reached more than 263,000 Nigerians.

SheIsIncluded sits within that broader policy architecture, designed to operate beyond a standalone programme by aligning government, development partners and the private sector around a shared objective.

The initiative's delivery pathway is deliberate in its simplicity: a woman enrols on her phone, learns a skill in her own language, earns a verifiable credential, and uses it to pursue employment, entrepreneurship or financial opportunity. Repeated millions of times, that individual journey becomes a national transformation.

Die Rolle von Ubuntu Tribe

Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, Founder of Ubuntu Tribe, explained the platform's role. "A woman should not need wealth or proximity to opportunity to develop a valuable skill. Ubuntu's role is to put that opportunity within reach through the phone already in her hand and a credential the economy can recognise," he said.

Oyin Solebo, COO of Ubuntu Tribe and former Managing Director of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, described the partnership's significance. "This is what innovative capital deployment looks like. It is like a government building real investment readiness at scale, and a partner meeting that foundational work with non-dilutive funding at exactly the moment it's needed," she said.

The initiative is designed to scale beyond a single cohort. All women who complete the learning journey retain their verifiable credentials, creating a growing pool of recognised talent that employers and financial institutions can access.