President Bola Tinubu hosted the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at the Aso Villa in Abuja on Thursday.

Naijaonpoint reports that the closed-door meeting, also attended by Minister of Trade, Jumoke Oduwole, centred on national, continental, and global trade issues.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Okonjo-Iweala revealed that Nigeria had secured a place among four countries selected globally for the newly launched Women’s Exporters’ Fund for the Digital Economy.

She said, “We launched a Women’s Exporters’ Fund for the digital economy. This is a fund jointly managed by the World Trade Organisation and the International Trade Centre to support women to weather the storms of the economy and create jobs for themselves.”

She noted that the initiative, supported by the First Lady, aims to serve as a social safety net to enable Nigerian women to contribute more to the economy.

According to Okonjo-Iweala, 67,000 Nigerian women applied, but 146 emerged as beneficiaries.

“Sixteen of them won what we called the Booster Track, those who already have businesses but need scaling up. They will receive technical and business support from the WTO and ITC for 18 months,” she explained.

Another 100 winners will receive $5,000 each to either start or strengthen their businesses, with a 12-month reform plan to follow.