“The constraint is not ambition — it is access. W.O.M.A.N. 2026 is built to close that gap directly,” said Tokunboh Ishmael, Managing Partner of Alitheia Capital, ahead of the firm’s third annual W.O.M.A.N. conference, held in Lagos on 10 and 11 September.
The two-day event was convened to bring together some 300 screened women-led businesses in manufacturing, agribusiness and nutrition, alongside investors, donors, philanthropic foundations, development finance institutions and policymakers. Its theme — “Scaling Women-Led Manufacturing, Agribusiness & Nutrition MSMEs: Providing Pathways to Capital, Energy, AI and Markets for Business Resilience” — placed finance alongside technology, energy and market access as conditions for growth.
Rather than treating financial inclusion as access to basic banking services, the programme was designed around investment readiness for enterprises that already have revenues and customers. Sessions were set to cover financial management, governance, capital structuring, climate resilience, green manufacturing and the energy transition.
First City Monument Bank supported the conference as exclusive banking partner through SheVentures, its proposition for women-owned businesses.
Access to finance begins with readiness. Businesses with reliable records, sound financial management, and clear growth plans are better positioned to secure funding.
Oluremi Agboola, Head of SME Asset Products, FCMB
Agboola framed the event as a way to narrow the gap between entrepreneurs seeking finance and institutions looking for viable businesses to back.
Nnenna Jacob-Ogogo, Group Head of Gender and Impact Sectors at FCMB, said the partnership aimed to help more women develop the structures, knowledge and connections needed to move from running viable enterprises to building businesses that can scale.
Beyond Lagos, the 2026 programme extends through cohort sessions across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, structured investment-readiness and access-to-finance pathways, and digital capacity building on Alitheia Capital’s Nzinga learning platform. A cohort of businesses was to be onboarded onto Nzinga at the close of the conference, with Alitheia tracking capital raised, jobs created and revenue growth over the following twelve months.
Institutional partners include FCMB SheVentures, Airtel, StarSight, RenCom, LATC, the Bank of Industry, FCDO Manufacturing Africa, Google Hustle Academy, the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, SMEDAN and the Lagos State Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment.
The design of the programme reflects a wider shift in the women-in-finance conversation: from expanding access to financial services towards building a pipeline of women-led enterprises capable of engaging banks, investors and institutional capital. The question is increasingly not only whether finance is available, but whether businesses have the structures, information and networks to convert it into sustainable growth.
Based on statements issued by Alitheia Capital and FCMB and on published coverage of the conference.
