The Director-General,
Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Aruma Oteh,  has charged Nigerian women to utilise the investment opportunities available in Africa.
Oteh gave this charge at a lecture organised by Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) in Lagos, last Thursday.
Speaking on the theme: “Repositioning for Global Relevance: Opportunities and Realities’’, Oteh said that Africa had become the preferred investment destination in the world.
“We have an influx of foreign direct investment into Africa because it remains the fastest growing continent in the world.
“The Gross Domestic Product of the continent is about two trillion dollars while its consumption rate is expected to increase to 1.4 trillion dollars in 2020.
“It is home to world’s most coveted resources including 30 per cent of the world’s hydrocarbon and mineral reserves,” she said.
Oteh, who advised women to invest in agriculture, power generation and distribution, information technology and other sectors of the economy, however, lamented inability of women to access finance for their business, stressing that, “A lot of women in Africa do not have access to basic financial services.
“An International Finance Corporation survey carried out in the Middle East and North Africa revealed that about 75 per cent of women are being denied bank loans.
“Nigeria is not an exception as women do not possess collateral that will guarantee their easy access to capital elsewhere.
“Even though women are about 60 per cent of the Nigerian workforce, they are five times less likely to own lands,” she said.
She, however, commended the Federal Government’s effort in encouraging increased participation of women in business and politics through its various incentives and gender programmes.
Oteh appealed to large business organisations to encourage the selection of more women as board members and chief executive officers.
She noted that women possess unique attributes that boost innovations and encourage profitable business decisions.