Creditworthy but Excluded: The Financial Access Gap Facing Nigerian Women
A growing number of Nigerian women are demonstrating strong entrepreneurial ambition, 34% express a desire to start their own businesses or expand a business. However, a significant barrier stands in their way: 62% lack access to start-up capital. This financing gap reflects a larger issue, the persistent gender disparity in access to financial services in Nigeria.
Women remain more financially excluded than men, with only 47% of Nigerian women using formal financial services, compared to 58% of men. This 11-percentage-point gap means that fewer women can access essential financial tools such as credit, savings accounts, and insurance, all crucial for starting and scaling a business.
Despite these constraints, women have consistently proven to be more creditworthy than men. According to a Moniepoint report, 16.7 percent of women manage to get access to loans from their financial institutions, despite evidence of a 95% repayment rate among female borrowers. This repayment performance is a critical indicator for lenders, signaling low credit risk and a strong likelihood of repayment.
A study by Moniepoint reinforces this finding: the loan default rate for women is 2.5 times lower than that of men, reinforcing the fact that women are, on average, lower-risk borrowers.
However, rather than being rewarded for their reliability, women face tougher scrutiny and higher approval thresholds when applying for loans. This systemic bias in lending not only restricts their economic participation but also represents a missed opportunity for financial institutions.
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