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Tosin Eniolorunda Advocates for Women-Centric Financial Inclusion
For financial inclusion to be sustainable, especially for women, it must no longer be treated as a buzzword, charitable social activity or a checklist to be marked.
L-R: Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun, Chief Executive Officer, Credit Registry; Inez Murray, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Alliance for Women; Tosin Eniolorunda, Founder and CEO, Moniepoint Inc; Bonaventure Okhaimo, Chief Operating Officer, Development Bank of Nigeria; Emem Usoro, Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nkiru Balonwu, Founder, Africa Soft Power Group & Advisor to the CBN Governor at the 2nd International Financial Inclusion Conference 2024 which was held at the Landmark Arena, Lagos
It must be rooted in economic and business activities that are well underlined by data considering that it is actually more profitable to serve women.
This was the thrust of an engaging plenary session, Leveraging Data to Accelerate Access to Finance for Woman Owned and Women-Led Enterprises in Nigeria which was moderated by the Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria Ms. Emem Usoro, at the second edition of the International Financial Inclusion Conference 2024 organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria and other critical stakeholders with the theme “Inclusive Growth: Harnessing Financial Inclusion for Economic Development.
The conference brought together a rich line-up of global thought leaders, industry practitioners, and key stakeholders to discuss pressing issues around how to accelerate financial inclusion in Nigeria and showcase Nigeria’s progress on gender inclusive financing, spotlight innovative solutions for inclusion, and how to deepen financing and capacity building of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as catalysts of economic growth.
Tosin Eniolorunda, chief executive officer and founder of Moniepoint Inc noted that financial service providers play a vital role in supporting gender-inclusive finance and that by collecting and analyzing data on gender trends in small business performance, they can craft better policies, targeted products, and support services that encourage more women entrepreneurs.
Drawing from data curated from the Moniepoint platform, he averred that “women-owned businesses are more likely to stay active and show higher engagement rates in financial transactions.” In cases where financial support has been extended—through investments, KYC compliance, or the provision of tools like point-of-sale devices—female-led businesses have a 7.2 percent higher activity rate than their male counterparts while looking at the gender relations with credit products, “women-owned businesses have an 87.5 percent lower loan non-performance rate (NPL) than male-owned enterprises.”
Eniolorunda also made a case for the economic potential of investing in women entrepreneurs, who have proven to be diligent and enhance profitability while calling stakeholders to pay attention to the need to drive financial inclusion in the Northern part of the country.
He continued, “Data is the new oil,” and its application in the financial sector could be transformative for women-led businesses.
Echoing similar sentiments, Chief Executive Officer, Credit Registry, Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun said that, ”90% of women’s income that they receive goes back to the communities and their families as such when women have access to credit, the community is enhanced, families are better off which is why it’s important that they can access this funding.”
Other panelists included Chief Executive Officer, Financial Alliance for Women, Inez Murray, and the Chief Operating Officer, Development Bank of Nigeria, Bonaventure Okhaimo who expressed belief that creating an enabling environment, with increased investor participation coupled with the willingness of other stakeholders to sit around the table and have frank conversations will move the needle on financial inclusion for women owned businesses.
In her summation, Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria Ms. Emem Usoro acknowledged some of the structural challenges that might require time and resources to be addressed including cultural practices and less systemic ones such as distance to financial services providers that stifle the participation of women owned businesses, while signposting the power of data to serve as a catalyst for inclusive growth and its viability for economic planning .
It will be recalled that the inaugural IFIC which was held in Abuja in November 2022, focused on Nigeria’s achievements since the launch of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) in 2012 even as it highlighted the scaling of innovative digital models in the rapidly evolving financial services landscape.
In the wake of increasing geopolitical tension, Cassava Technologies has unveiled its National Sovereign Cloud offering for African governments.
The solution, the company claims, will help the continent’s governments ensure data is kept on infrastructure that remains under local legal and operational jurisdiction.
According to the official announcement, made yesterday, the solution provides “secure, locally-governed digital infrastructure that enables the deployment of AI-enabled public services”.
The overarching solution encompasses cloud, cyber security, AI computing infrastructure, as well as local language AI models and skills support for governments.
The announcement comes amid increasing uncertainty over the hosting of sensitive national data on cloud services operated by foreign hyperscalers, which are subject to legal frameworks, such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. The CLOUD Act opens the door to allow American authorities to access data stored on the servers of US hyperscalers, wherever those servers are physically located.
Cassava has claimed separately that currently, “approximately 33% to 45% of the world’s data is hosted in the USA”.
The company added: “A sovereign cloud reduces exposure to extraterritorial laws, improves cyber resilience, and ensures that model weights and training data for public AI remain under national custody.”
The Africa Data Centres Association’s 2026 Economic Report states that “data sovereignty has evolved from a legal aspiration into a strategic policy lever”.
Ahmed El Beheiry, Group COO and Group Chief Technology and AI Officer, Cassava Technologies said: “Across Africa, governments are accelerating their digital transformation agendas and are increasingly focused on ensuring that data and digital infrastructure remain secure and sovereign.”
Announced at the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, this week, the Sovereign Cloud offering launch accompanied the launch of Cassava’s Cloud Partner programme.
The partner programme targets mobile network operators and system integrators across Africa to resell and distribute AI, cloud, and other digital services using Cassava’s infrastructure and technology platforms.
El Beheiry added: “We are expanding Africa’s sovereign AI ecosystem to build solutions that address the continent’s unique challenges while creating new opportunities for growth and digital inclusion.”
The programme offers partners access to NVIDIA Cloud Partner solutions, Cassava’s AI Factory, its own native AI solutions and its AI Multi-Model Exchange, which supports both Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini models.
Mazen Mroue, a non-executive director at MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has resigned effective February 27, 2026, to prioritise other responsibilities within the MTN Group, the company announced in a Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) filing.
MTN Nigeria
The notice, signed by company secretary Uto Ukpanah, stated: “This is to enable Mr. Mroue to focus on other priorities within MTN Group Limited. The Board wishes to express its appreciation to Mr. Mroue for his immense service to MTN Nigeria and wishes him success in his future endeavours.”
Mroue joined MTN Nigeria’s board on June 1, 2022, bringing over 28 years of telecom experience. A veteran MTN executive, he previously served as CEO of MTN Uganda and MTN Liberia, non-executive director at MTN Cyprus, and held leadership roles at MTN Ghana.
Since February 2022, he has been MTN Group’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, overseeing technology strategy and governance. Earlier, as MTN Nigeria’s COO from August 2018 to January 2022, he also sat on the MTN Nigeria Foundation board.
The exit follows MTN Nigeria’s stellar 2025 results, posting a ₦1.70 trillion profit before tax—reversing a ₦550.3 billion loss in 2024 driven by forex woes—marking one of the telco’s strongest rebounds.
Google has rolled out support for Yorùbá and Hausa languages in its AI-powered Search features—AI Overviews and AI Mode—enabling millions of Nigerians to get quick answers, summaries, and conversational web exploration in their mother tongues.
The update forms part of Google’s push to cover 13 African languages, including Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, and isiZulu, selected based on high search activity across the continent.
Now, a Kano student can ask complex questions in Hausa, while an Ibadan trader seeks business tips in Yorùbá—both receiving culturally nuanced AI responses via text or voice on Android, iOS, or web.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s West Africa Communications Manager, said: “Building truly global Search requires nuanced local understanding. With Gemini-powered AI, we’ve made advanced capabilities relevant in Yorùbá and Hausa, so Nigerians converse naturally with Search in their mother tongues.”
To use: Open the Google app, tap AI Mode, and query in Hausa or Yorùbá for personalised guidance—breaking language barriers and making technology reflect Nigeria’s diverse identity.
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