By Oluwaseun Oladimeji, Director of Business Growth
International Women’s Day is often a moment of reflection and celebration. We celebrate the resilience of women, the progress made over decades, and the growing influence of women across industries and economies. But celebration alone is not enough. If this year’s theme, “Give to Gain,” is to mean anything, it must push us to ask a more practical question: what must we give, through policy, infrastructure, and opportunity, so that women can truly gain economic power in the next decade?
The urgency of this question is particularly evident in countries like Nigeria, where women are not peripheral participants in the economy but central drivers of it. Nigeria is home to an estimated 23 million women entrepreneurs, one of the highest concentrations of female entrepreneurs globally. Women also account for about 40% of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. These numbers reflect something important: women are already building businesses, creating jobs, and contributing meaningfully to economic growth. Yet participation alone does not guarantee progress.
For years, conversations about women’s economic empowerment have focused primarily on access: access to education, access to credit, and access to financial services. These efforts have created important foundations, enabling more women to participate in formal financial systems than ever before. But access by itself does not automatically translate into growth. Having a bank account does not necessarily mean a business can expand, manage complex financial operations, or compete effectively in global markets.
The next decade of women-led economic growth will depend on three interconnected elements: access, efficiency, and scale.
Access remains the starting point. Without it, opportunity cannot begin. But once access is established, the more pressing question becomes how efficiently women can operate within the financial systems available to them.
The existing inefficiencies are more than minor inconveniences. They are structural barriers to growth. Every hour spent tracking delayed transactions is time that could have been used to build partnerships, attract customers, or scale operations. Every unexpected cost reduces capital that could have been reinvested into expansion. And every lack of financial clarity makes long-term planning more difficult. If we truly believe in the economic potential of women, then building systems that remove these barriers must become a priority.
This is where the principle of “Give to Gain” becomes practical. When institutions provide better financial infrastructure, women gain the ability to build and scale with confidence.
But another dimension is becoming increasingly important: scale.
Women across Africa are building enterprises that interact with global markets. Technology has lowered the barriers to international commerce, enabling entrepreneurs to sell products, deliver services, and collaborate across borders. However, scaling these businesses requires financial systems capable of supporting complexity: managing multiple currencies, paying international suppliers, receiving cross-border payments, and making real-time financial decisions.
Without infrastructure designed for scale, even the most promising ventures struggle to expand beyond certain limits. This is why financial innovation must move beyond convenience and begin addressing structural needs.
At Bluebulb, we see financial infrastructure as a catalyst for inclusion. As businesses expand across borders, treasury operations become more complex, and the need for visibility and control becomes essential. This understanding shaped the development of Orbita by Bluebulb, a treasury management platform designed to simplify financial operations through a unified dashboard that enables multi-currency management, real-time transaction tracking, liquidity monitoring, and seamless payouts.
For women managing businesses or financial operations across borders, infrastructure like this can be transformative. It reduces the operational burden of managing money and replaces uncertainty with clarity. When financial leaders can see where their funds are, move money efficiently, and operate confidently across currencies, they gain something invaluable: the ability to focus on growth rather than friction.
The theme “Give to Gain” challenges institutions, policymakers, and financial innovators to think beyond symbolic commitments and toward practical solutions.
Because when women are supported with the tools they need to succeed, tools that are transparent, efficient, and designed for the realities of modern commerce, the outcome is not just individual empowerment. It is economic transformation.
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