Digital Skills. Business Growth. Economic Independence.
Equipping Women with the Digital Skills, Tools and Opportunities to Build, Grow and Thrive in the Digital Economy.
The future of enterprise is increasingly digital. From how businesses reach customers and manage transactions to how ideas become products and services, technology is reshaping the way people work, trade and create economic value.
Yet, for many women, particularly those in underserved communities, the opportunities of the digital economy remain difficult to access.
At ChangePoint Advancement Initiative for Development (C-PAID), we believe women should not merely be consumers of technology. They should have the opportunity to use it to create, innovate, build successful businesses and participate meaningfully in the digital economy.
WIDE, Women in Digital Entrepreneurship, is C-PAID’s flagship digital economic empowerment initiative, designed to equip women with practical digital skills, entrepreneurial capabilities, relevant technological tools and support networks that help them convert digital knowledge into economic opportunity.
Through accessible learning, hands-on business development, mentorship and partnerships, WIDE seeks to strengthen women’s participation in the digital economy and enable more women to build sustainable, technology-enabled livelihoods.
Our ambition is to help women move beyond digital access towards digital confidence, enterprise growth and economic independence.
The goal is not simply to get more women online. It is to help more women benefit economically from being online.
Digital technology has opened new pathways for commerce, communication, innovation, learning and financial participation. A small business can now reach customers beyond its immediate neighbourhood. An entrepreneur can use digital tools to manage inventory, communicate with suppliers, promote products and improve productivity.
However, access to these opportunities is not equally distributed.
For many women in Nigeria, digital participation is constrained by the cost of devices and internet access, limited digital literacy, inadequate training opportunities, online safety concerns and insufficient exposure to technologies that could strengthen their businesses.
Even where women own smartphones or use social media, this does not necessarily translate into the skills needed to operate an online enterprise, manage digital payments, use productivity tools or reach new markets.
These challenges are often more pronounced among women operating informal businesses, women in rural and peri-urban communities and those whose economic circumstances limit their access to training and technology.
WIDE responds to a critical development need: bridging the gap between access to technology and the ability to use technology productively.
We recognise that meaningful digital inclusion is not achieved merely by teaching women how to operate a device. It is achieved when they can use their digital capabilities to solve problems, strengthen businesses, access opportunities and improve their economic circumstances.
Digital access is an economic inclusion issue. According to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2026, affordability, particularly of handsets, and literacy and digital skills remain the main barriers to women’s mobile internet use. These are global findings for low- and middle-income countries, not Nigeria-specific figures.
Source: GSMA, Mobile Gender Gap Report 2026, published 10 June 2026
We envision a future where women, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances, have the skills, confidence, tools and opportunities to participate meaningfully in the digital economy and build sustainable economic futures.
To advance women’s digital and economic inclusion through practical technology training, digital entrepreneurship development, responsible innovation, mentorship and market-oriented partnerships that create pathways to sustainable livelihoods and business growth.
WIDE is designed around five strategic objectives.
Improve access to practical, relevant and accessible digital training for women who face barriers to meaningful technology participation.
Equip women with the knowledge and capabilities to establish, manage, digitise and grow enterprises through appropriate technology.
Support women entrepreneurs to use digital marketing, e-commerce, digital payments, business management systems and emerging technologies to improve enterprise performance.
Create opportunities for rural women, informal entrepreneurs and other underserved groups to benefit from digital tools, markets and enterprise support.
Connect women to mentors, technology partners, business networks, peer communities and practical opportunities for continued learning and economic advancement.
We recognise that women enter the digital economy with different experiences, resources and aspirations. Some require foundational digital knowledge, while others are ready to develop online businesses, improve their commercial operations or explore emerging technologies.
WIDE therefore adopts a progressive learning and enterprise development model built around six interconnected pathways.
Building Confidence. Creating Digital Foundations.
See the pathway ↓Taking Women’s Enterprises into the Digital Economy.
See the pathway ↓Turning Digital Creativity into Economic Value.
See the pathway ↓Making Emerging Technology Work for Women.
See the pathway ↓Bringing Digital Opportunity Closer to Every Community.
See the pathway ↓Beyond Training. Towards Enterprise Growth.
See the pathway ↓Building Confidence. Creating Digital Foundations.
WIDE START provides foundational digital literacy and digital confidence-building for women with limited experience using technology for productive or commercial purposes.
The pathway introduces participants to essential digital tools and practices required for communication, learning, business activities and safe online participation.
Women who can confidently and safely use essential digital tools to access information, communicate and begin participating in digital economic activities.
Taking Women’s Enterprises into the Digital Economy.
WIDE BUSINESS focuses on helping women entrepreneurs adopt digital technologies that improve business visibility, customer engagement, transactions and operational efficiency.
The pathway is designed for women who operate existing businesses or have viable ideas that could benefit from digital channels.
Participants are introduced to practical approaches for building an online business presence, reaching customers and organising business activities.
Women entrepreneurs better equipped to use digital tools to reach customers, improve operations and strengthen business performance.
Turning Digital Creativity into Economic Value.
The digital economy offers opportunities for women to build businesses around creativity, content, digital products and online services.
WIDE CREATE supports women interested in developing commercially relevant digital creative skills and exploring legitimate income-generating opportunities.
Participants will be encouraged to identify practical service offerings, understand customer needs, build portfolios and develop responsible business models.
Women with market-relevant creative capabilities and clearer pathways to providing digital services or developing digital products.
Making Emerging Technology Work for Women.
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way businesses plan, communicate, analyse information and improve productivity.
WIDE AI seeks to make practical AI literacy accessible to women entrepreneurs, including those without formal technical backgrounds.
The pathway focuses on appropriate, responsible and business-oriented uses of AI rather than advanced programming or unrealistic promises of automated income.
Women who can critically and responsibly apply accessible AI tools to improve productivity, business processes and decision-making.
Bringing Digital Opportunity Closer to Every Community.
Digital economic opportunities should not be limited to major cities or communities with established technology infrastructure.
WIDE RURAL is the programme’s inclusion pathway, designed to adapt digital entrepreneurship education to the realities of rural and underserved communities.
Rather than assume every participant has access to a laptop, stable electricity or continuous internet connectivity, this pathway will prioritise mobile-first learning, accessible training locations and practical applications relevant to local economic activities.
Rural women with improved digital confidence and increased ability to use technology to support livelihoods, enterprise activities and market participation.
Beyond Training. Towards Enterprise Growth.
Digital skills become more valuable when women can apply them in real businesses, professional activities and income-generating opportunities.
WIDE LAUNCH provides a proposed post-training pathway for eligible participants who demonstrate commitment, viable business ideas or potential for measurable enterprise progress.
It is intended to bridge the gap between training completion and practical economic participation.
Participants better positioned to convert digital learning into viable entrepreneurial activity, enterprise growth or technology-enabled income opportunities.
WIDE will prioritise learning experiences that reflect the realities of women’s lives and businesses.
The programme is intended to combine guided instruction, demonstrations, practical assignments, mentoring and supervised application of digital tools.
Depending on funding and local needs, delivery may take place through community-based training centres, educational institutions, partner technology hubs, mobile learning arrangements or accessible online platforms.
Participants will be encouraged to work on tangible outputs relevant to their individual learning pathways. These may include creating a business profile, developing an online catalogue, preparing a digital marketing plan, setting up an appropriate digital record-keeping system or developing a portfolio of digital services.
Training activities will be adapted to participants’ starting skill levels, language needs, access to devices and business objectives.
The programme will also integrate digital safety and responsible technology use, recognising that digital participation should not expose women to avoidable fraud, exploitation, privacy risks or unsafe online practices.
WIDE is intended for adult women seeking to develop digital capabilities and use technology for entrepreneurship or sustainable economic participation.
Participation requirements will depend on the specific pathway, available resources, implementation location and level of training.
No previous technical qualification should be assumed for entry-level WIDE activities. More advanced pathways may require participants to demonstrate foundational competencies.
The programme aims to reach women across different stages of their digital and entrepreneurial journeys, including:
WIDE recognises that the digital divide is influenced by several interconnected factors. The availability of technology alone does not guarantee that women can afford to use it, understand it, trust it or benefit from it.
We therefore seek to develop interventions that consider affordability, accessibility, digital confidence, language, connectivity, time constraints and the realities of women’s economic responsibilities.
Our proposed approach includes:
Training formats appropriate to participants’ digital experience, literacy levels and access needs.
Prioritising relevant technologies that can operate on commonly available devices.
Considering the continuing costs of connectivity, software subscriptions and devices when recommending tools.
Integrating digital security, privacy, consumer protection and fraud awareness.
Linking training to realistic business needs, local economic activity and identifiable opportunities.
Working with local organisations and facilitators to increase programme accessibility and relevance.
For WIDE, meaningful inclusion means helping women become capable digital participants without assuming that all women have the same resources or learning needs.
WIDE aims to move beyond training participation figures towards measurable changes in digital capabilities, business practices and economic opportunities.
Our intended results include:
Women demonstrate improved ability to use relevant digital tools safely, independently and effectively.
Women entrepreneurs incorporate appropriate digital tools into marketing, customer engagement, transactions and business operations.
Participants develop stronger digital visibility and opportunities to reach customers beyond their existing business networks.
Women use newly acquired capabilities to develop viable business ideas, digital products, services or improved enterprise models.
Participants adopt relevant tools that may improve workflow efficiency, information management and business decision-making.
Women gain improved opportunities to earn income, strengthen business performance or pursue technology-enabled livelihoods.
Participants establish connections with peers, mentors and partner organisations that support continued business development and learning.
Our programme monitoring framework will distinguish training outputs from economic outcomes. Improvements in income or enterprise performance will be assessed against appropriate baseline information rather than presumed from training completion.
WIDE’s objectives support several priorities within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Supporting access to relevant digital and entrepreneurial skills, lifelong learning and practical capability development.
Advancing women’s capabilities, agency and participation in economic opportunities enabled by technology.
Supporting entrepreneurship, productive economic activity and opportunities for sustainable livelihoods.
Encouraging the productive adoption of digital technology, innovation and enterprise development.
Seeking to reduce barriers to digital economic participation among women in underserved and disadvantaged communities.
WIDE’s contribution to these goals will depend on the scale, quality and demonstrated outcomes of its implemented activities.
A successful digital entrepreneurship programme must produce benefits that extend beyond the training environment.
WIDE is therefore designed to encourage continued application of skills, enterprise development, mentoring and access to opportunities after formal learning activities are completed.
Our proposed sustainability model includes:
Prioritising practical tools and transferable capabilities that remain useful as technology and market conditions evolve.
Connecting participants to experienced entrepreneurs, professionals and technical advisers who can support continued development.
Encouraging participant networks that enable women to exchange experiences, share opportunities and strengthen digital confidence.
Seeking relationships with businesses and technology providers that can support access to tools, business networks and relevant commercial opportunities.
Supporting local facilitators and delivery partners who can help extend learning opportunities within communities.
Using participant feedback, technology developments and outcome data to keep training relevant and commercially meaningful.
The programme’s long-term success will depend not only on how many women participate, but on the extent to which their new capabilities translate into sustained economic and social value.
The digital economy presents significant opportunities for women’s economic participation, but those opportunities will not be realised through access to technology alone.
Women need relevant skills, practical learning opportunities, supportive networks and connections to real economic activity.
WIDE offers a focused platform for organisations seeking to contribute to digital inclusion, women’s entrepreneurship, enterprise development and technology-enabled economic participation in Nigeria.
We welcome partnerships with development agencies, philanthropic foundations, technology companies, telecommunications providers, financial institutions, educational institutions, professional associations and corporate organisations.
Support structured digital entrepreneurship training for a defined group of women, with agreed learning objectives, reporting requirements and outcome indicators.
Collaborate on accessible digital learning opportunities for women in rural and underserved communities through mobile-first training, technology access and local delivery partnerships.
Contribute suitable devices, software access, connectivity support, learning platforms or technical infrastructure to strengthen programme delivery.
Provide trainers, specialists, facilitators, curriculum support and expertise in digital entrepreneurship, e-commerce, business technology or responsible artificial intelligence.
Collaborate on mentoring, enterprise development, digital market access and appropriate post-training support for women demonstrating entrepreneurial potential.
Help connect women-led businesses with customers, distribution channels, corporate procurement opportunities and digital commercial networks.
Collaborate on baseline assessments, digital inclusion research, outcome tracking, programme evaluation and learning.
WIDE combines a defined gender inclusion objective with practical business development and technology adoption.
Its modular design allows partners to support specific digital skills, enterprise development or rural inclusion priorities while contributing to a coherent programme framework.
The initiative is intended to support measurable progress in digital capabilities, technology adoption and economic participation, with scope for different delivery models and geographic contexts.
Partnerships will be developed around agreed objectives, clear responsibilities, transparent funding arrangements, safeguarding, responsible data practices and appropriate monitoring and evaluation.
For a woman running a small business, the ability to reach customers online can create new possibilities. For an aspiring entrepreneur, digital skills can provide a foundation for developing a product or service. For a rural woman, access to relevant technology and markets can expand the opportunities available within her community.
WIDE seeks to turn these possibilities into practical opportunities through learning, mentorship, enterprise support and purposeful collaboration.
Your contribution can help support training resources, access to digital tools, community-based learning, mentorship and the development of inclusive entrepreneurship opportunities.
WIDE stands for Women in Digital Entrepreneurship. It is C-PAID’s flagship initiative focused on equipping women with digital skills, entrepreneurship capabilities and opportunities to participate more meaningfully in the digital economy.
WIDE is intended for adult women, including aspiring entrepreneurs, existing business owners, informal traders, rural women and women seeking practical digital skills for economic participation. Eligibility will depend on the specific training pathway and announced programme requirements.
Not necessarily. WIDE START is designed as a foundational pathway for women with limited digital experience. Other pathways may require basic digital skills or relevant business experience.
No. WIDE also supports women operating businesses in retail, agriculture, services, manufacturing, the creative economy and other sectors. The programme focuses on using digital tools to improve business performance and create economic opportunities, not exclusively on careers in the technology industry.
Yes. WIDE AI is a proposed learning pathway focusing on practical and responsible uses of artificial intelligence for entrepreneurship, productivity, research, marketing and business processes.
Rural inclusion is a core programme priority. WIDE RURAL is designed to adapt digital learning to community needs, including mobile-first training and practical applications relevant to rural livelihoods.
Access to equipment, enterprise grants or other material support is not guaranteed. Such assistance may be incorporated into specific funded projects where resources, programme objectives and transparent eligibility requirements permit.
Any certification arrangements will depend on the approved curriculum, delivery partners and requirements of individual training cohorts. Details will be communicated before enrolment.
Registration, eligibility requirements, locations and training schedules will be announced for individual programme activities. Interested participants may contact C-PAID for information about available opportunities.
Yes. WIDE is designed to accommodate pathway-specific collaborations, including digital literacy, business digitisation, responsible AI training, rural digital inclusion and post-training enterprise development.
BUILDHER is C-PAID’s broader women’s advancement initiative, addressing entrepreneurship, livelihoods, leadership and holistic development. WIDE is specifically focused on technology-enabled entrepreneurship, digital capabilities and women’s economic participation in the digital economy.
A more inclusive digital economy begins when women have meaningful opportunities to learn, create, build and grow.
WIDE represents C-PAID’s commitment to helping women move from digital exclusion towards digital confidence, from limited business visibility towards wider market opportunities, and from technological uncertainty towards greater economic participation.
Through practical learning, responsible innovation and meaningful partnerships, we seek to help women turn digital potential into lasting progress.
