By Sharon Akuboh
As Nigeria seeks to strengthen its vast micro and small business sector and move more enterprises towards formalisation and sustainable growth, over 100 women entrepreneurs have been equipped with practical tools in regulatory compliance, trademark protection, business systems and market readiness at a special entrepreneurship workshop in Abuja.
The Women Entrepreneurship Workshop (WEW) Special Edition, held on Saturday, August 8, 2026, was delivered by Tu2minis Global Services Limited for the Women of Excellence, House of Esther and House of Hannah, Family Worship Center International, with support from Hope Raisers Global Foundation and Sweet Nations World of Popcorn.
The intervention brought together women at different stages of entrepreneurship and focused on moving businesses beyond informal or founder-dependent operations towards enterprises that are properly structured, compliant, competitive and positioned for sustainable growth.
According to the 2021 National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) MSME Survey, as reported in the International Labour Organization’s National Assessment of Women’s Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria, the country had 38.4 million nano and micro businesses, with women accounting for 32.9 per cent of business ownership.
Across Nigeria, these numbers represent women producing food, beverages and household products; running restaurants and catering businesses; building fashion and beauty brands; operating retail and processing businesses; and providing a wide range of professional services.
Many of these enterprises provide livelihoods, support families, employ others and contribute to their local economies. The challenge, however, is ensuring that more of them develop the formalisation, regulatory compliance, brand protection, financial discipline and operational structures required to access larger markets and opportunities.
It is this gap between running a business and building a sustainable enterprise that the Women Entrepreneurship Workshop seeks to address.
Founder and Executive Lead of Tu2minis Global Services Limited and Convener of the Women Entrepreneurship Workshop, Mrs. Ngozi Enite-Okoro, said the Special Edition for the Women of Excellence, House of Esther and House of Hannah was driven by the need to ensure that women’s entrepreneurial activity translates into stronger and more sustainable enterprises.
“Women are already building businesses and contributing significantly to their families, communities and the economy. Our responsibility is to ensure that they have the knowledge, structures and support required to formalise, grow, access larger opportunities and build sustainable enterprises,” Enite-Okoro said.
She said her advocacy for women entrepreneurs has consistently focused on moving women from informality to formalisation, from survival to sustainability, and ultimately from enterprise to institution.
Beyond Business Registration
The workshop was delivered across three interconnected areas of enterprise development.
The first module, Enterprise Clarity, Regulatory Compliance and Brand Protection, addressed business formalisation, applicable regulatory requirements, intellectual property, trademark protection and the importance of establishing legitimacy as enterprises grow.
The second, Enterprise Design, Operational Structure and Sustainable Business Systems, focused on processes, documentation, financial discipline, accountability and systems that enable businesses to operate effectively without excessive dependence on their founders.
The third module, Market Readiness, Visibility and Sustainable Growth, addressed customer understanding, market positioning, visibility, strategic partnerships and preparing enterprises for larger and more competitive markets.
Enite-Okoro noted that formalisation should not be viewed merely as obtaining a business registration certificate.
“Business registration should be accompanied by trademark protection, appropriate regulatory compliance, sound financial management, effective operational systems and market readiness. Protecting the business name or brand is particularly important because entrepreneurs must safeguard the identity and value they are building,” she said.
The workshop therefore challenged participants to look beyond sales and revenue as the primary indicators of business success and pay greater attention to the structures required to sustain growth.
From Training to Measurable Results
A major focus of the Women Entrepreneurship Workshop is ensuring that training translates into measurable business outcomes.
Across previous editions, participating entrepreneurs have recorded more than 60 trademarks, over 60 business registrations, at least 20 NAFDAC approvals and 14 product analyses, with several other businesses progressing through different regulatory and compliance processes.
For Enite-Okoro, these outcomes underscore the need for enterprise development interventions to extend beyond the training room.
“The real question after every intervention is: what changed in the business? Implementation and accountability are at the heart of what we do,” she said.
Following the August 8 Special Edition for the Women of Excellence, House of Esther and House of Hannah, Family Worship Center International, participants were organised into 11 Implementation and Accountability Groups to provide continued peer support, encourage execution and track practical progress.
Participants are expected to translate lessons from the workshop into concrete actions, from business registration and trademark protection to regulatory compliance, stronger operational systems, improved financial management and greater market readiness.
The post-workshop structure is designed to bridge the often significant gap between acquiring business knowledge and translating it into measurable enterprise outcomes.
Partnership for Enterprise Development
The Special Edition also highlighted the importance of collaboration in expanding access to practical enterprise development interventions for women.
Hope Raisers Global Foundation and Sweet Nations World of Popcorn supported Tu2minis Global Services Limited in the delivery of the initiative, complementing the commitment of the Women of Excellence, House of Esther and House of Hannah, Family Worship Center International, to creating opportunities for women to strengthen their businesses.
For Tu2minis Global Services Limited, such partnerships are important to extending enterprise development beyond individual interventions and building an ecosystem in which women entrepreneurs can access knowledge, implementation support and opportunities for sustainable growth.
A Wider Economic Imperative
The International Labour Organization has described Nigeria’s women’s entrepreneurship landscape as one characterised by a large informal segment and a much smaller formal segment. Its assessment identifies regulatory conditions, access to finance and business development support, markets and technology among the factors affecting women’s ability to build sustainable enterprises.
For Enite-Okoro, strengthening women-owned businesses should therefore be viewed beyond the lens of women’s empowerment.
“When a woman builds a sustainable enterprise, the impact extends beyond her. That business can support a household, employ other people, create opportunities for suppliers and contribute to economic activity within the community. Strengthening women-owned enterprises is therefore also an economic and nation-building imperative,” she said.
The challenge, she added, is no longer simply encouraging more women to start businesses, but ensuring that women already engaged in enterprise have the knowledge and support required to formalise, protect their brands, comply with applicable regulations, build effective systems and access larger markets.
For Tu2minis Global Services Limited, the Special Edition represents another step in its continuing advocacy for stronger and more sustainable women-owned enterprises, supported by organisations and partners that recognise the wider economic value of strengthening women-led businesses.
For the more than 100 women of the Women of Excellence, House of Esther and House of Hannah, Family Worship Center International, who participated in the programme, the conclusion of the workshop marks the beginning of the next phase: implementation, accountability and measurable results.
Enite-Okoro said the long-term vision is to see more Nigerian women move beyond simply owning businesses to building sustainable enterprises capable of creating jobs, accessing larger opportunities, contributing meaningfully to the economy and ultimately becoming institutions that can endure beyond their founders.