Lagos, Nigeria – The African Women Power (AWP) Network has announced its partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund to help increase the number of local vendors who supply to large retailers, current retail partners include: ShopRite Nigeria, Miniso Nigeria, FreshForte and Next Cash n’ Carry.
The AWP Network Vendor program is a capacity building program for local vendors seeking professional guidance regarding best practices and guidelines to become vendor suppliers. The AWP Network Local Vendor Program in collaboration with Shoprite Limited, Nigeria will provide a real life opportunity for women entrepreneurs in Nigeria to get their products out into the market place. Vendors are also provided the opportunity to pitch their products for consideration as a supplier to various program retail and institutional partners.
“Nigeria needs more success stories, this is why the AWP Network deems it important to support women entrepreneurs to support and facilitate the rise of manufacturing, innovation and entrepreneurship. This we believe will help to reduce Nigeria’s high unemployment rate. We truly believe that this program is great for Nigeria’s community and economic development.” says Mary Olushoga, Founder of The AWP Network, a social enterprise based in Lagos.
The competitive AWP Network Vendor program, which launched last year on July 15, received over 2,500 vendor applications. Only 100 vendors were accepted into the first cohort, 61 vendors were certified to complete the program and received the opportunity to pitch their products to ShopRite Nigeria, Miniso Nigeria and FreshForte. This year, we doubled our application numbers and we are very excited about this collaboration and partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.
Have questions or concerns, please email: mary (at) awpnetwork.com
