Women’s ambitions for economic power

Survey collectors asked 200,000 women in Kenya and Nigeria to share their economic desires for themselves, their family, and their future. Here’s what we learned, and what’s standing in their way.
My biggest economic ambition is to set up a successful fashion design academy.

Women want the opportunity to earn an income.

Around the world, women and girls face significant barriers to pursuing economic opportunities, with studies consistently finding limited opportunities for them to get a fair-paying job, earn and control their own income, access capital, and build a business.

Alongside partners in Kenya and Nigeria, two of the Gates Foundation’s priority countries for gender equality work, we wanted to explore the personal economic experiences of women more deeply, so we asked 200,000 women across both countries about their economic ambitions and what stood in the way of claiming their power.

Women in Kenya and Nigeria both expressed a strong desire to own or expand a business, with a notable emphasis on the desire to gain financial independence.

The #1 ambition the survey found: Own a business

The #1 challenge in their way: Lack of start-up capital

Spotlighting economic ambitions: Caroline Jemutai

"My main economic ambition is to venture into horticultural farming. If I get the opportunity to own my own [car], I could expand my business." - Caroline Jemutai
My biggest economic ambition is to set up a successful fashion design academy.
Understanding the survey

Women need start-up capital

64% of women surveyed in Kenya and 62% in Nigeria said lack of start-up capital or equipment is holding them back from reaching their economic goals.

What Women Want report, 2023
My biggest economic ambition is to set up a successful fashion design academy.
My biggest economic ambition is to set up a successful fashion design academy.

Taking action

Responses from the survey reveal tangible needs that can be met with targeted solutions in both Kenya and Nigeria—giving leaders and advocacy groups clear direction on where and how to create more freedom for women to pursue their ambitions. By meeting women with the specific kinds of resources and support that they have called for, we can more effectively remove the barriers that stand between them and their economic power–enriching their lives, their communities, and the world beyond.

Leading the Conversation: Women Share Their Ambitions for Economic Power in Kenya and Nigeria

The What Women Want report

Leading the conversation: Women share their ambitions for economic power in Kenya and Nigeria.

Read the report
Leading the Conversation: Women Share Their Ambitions for Economic Power in Kenya and Nigeria

More on women’s economic ambition

Portrait of Bunmi Grace Babalola, owner of a Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendor (PPMV) drug store, in Alimosho, Lagos State, Nigeria, on May 23, 2023.

The capital women need, for the future we all need

Melinda French Gates pens the foreword to a new paper that addresses the need to expand access to affordable credit for women entrepreneurs in the Global South.
By Melinda French Gates Former Co-chair, Board Member, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Binta Diao, Eden Gatesi, Dr. Marie-Angelique Sene, Souadou Fall, and Dr. Shivon Byamukama

Melinda French Gates highlights five women inspiring change in their communities in Rwanda and Senegal

The global advocate for women and girls shares the stories of some extraordinary women whose vision and ingenuity are creating new possibilities for their countries and industries.
By Melinda French Gates Former Co-chair, Board Member, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
For a long time, Peace Alinda informally borrowed money through a friend who had the required collateral to acquire a loan. One development group member Medrine introduced Peace to Sylvia, a FINCA loan officer.With support from FINCA, Peace has invested in a number of ways, one of which is buying food supplies such as millet flour in bulk at harvest time (in December) when it is cheap and sell it at other times of the year when she can command a higher price. She is a businesswoman and a farmer with a wide variety of small investments. She also trades cattle and brokers land in her area.

Designing credit that works for women

In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, women business owners receive as few as 10% of loans issued to small and medium-sized businesses, creating an estimated $1.7 trillion financing gap for women entrepreneurs. When women don’t have the same access to much-needed capital as men, it holds back women, their businesses, and entire economies.
By Rohini Pande Professor of Economics, Yale University