NGO seeks to bridge unemployment gap for women in Nigeria

A Non–Governmental Organisation (NGO), under the aegis of Grow Women Leaders, has expressed its resolve to partner with employers of labour to create employment for women in the country, urging Nigerian women to be open for mentorship and learn the prevailing global dynamics on employability and sustainable career progression.

Founder of the non-profit talent platform, Mrs. Tracy Folorunsho-Barry, expressed this commitment, while speaking at a press conference which took place in Lagos, saying that the body, which focuses on empowering women, particularly immigrants and Black in the Diaspora had come to replicate its feat in Nigeria.

The Nigerian-born entrepreneur, based in Canada, while expressing the commitment of the organization headed by her to encourage more female participation in Nigeria’s workplaces, said the talent platform was out to help women get hired, having seen the unemployment rate in Nigeria.

“We will be working with employers of labour to create employment for women in the country.

“We want to help them get hired, we want to be able to work with employers to accommodate women in the workforce, it is what we are doing.

“We have seen the unemployment rate in Nigeria and we have seen it played out as well. It is not easy. We will be working with employers of labour to create employment for women in the country,” Folorunsho-Barry said.

Speaking further, Folorunsho-Barry said a lot of women in the country facing challenges needed to be in a community where they can be empowered and see other women grow, pointing out that the primary responsibility of her organization was to carry out career mapping and strategy to identify where the concerned women can fit in and excel.

“At Grow Women Leaders as a result of what we do, we are able to get women hired and advanced their career. We do that through job matching, training and ongoing career support for retention.

“Like I always tell our partners, getting women hired is one thing, getting the women retained in a position is another thing. So we at Grow Women Leaders ensured that employers are able not only to diversify their workforce but can also retain women for the long term.

“So basically our mission is to increase the participation of women in the workforce. We have been doing a lot of groundwork in Nigeria for some time, but right now we want to take it to the next level,” she stated.

This was just as Folorunsho-Barry recalled that getting into a job overseas had been a huge challenge for immigrants who travelled there for greener pastures with a high level education, noting that the opportunity to secure jobs does not come easy.

She, however, said the organisation in the past eight years had been able to make a positive impact on women by training thousands in Canada, disclosing that over 80 per cent of the women got hired because of the training, connection and strategy put in place by the body under her leadership.

READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE