The West African Women Association (WAWA) last Saturday in Lagos played host to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at the request of the Asian organization on an information collecting mission.

The survey objective is to understand the business and entrepreneurship support available to Nigerian business women, the status and activities of business women associations, donor/NGO assistance related to supporting business women and challenges as well as success stories of business women.

All the information collected through the survey will be utilized as key inputs for the formulation of the 2nd African Women’s Development Seminar, which aims to strengthen not only the networks not only between the seminar participants but also between the participants and Japanese government’s personnel and business women that might “broaden business opportunities for all actors”

Welcoming guests, the WAWA Focal Person Mrs. Beatrice Ubeku stressed the importance of continuous networking and sharing ideas on a continual basis. She said gatherings such as these provide the opportunities for co- operations both locally and internationally. Meanwhile members availed themselves of the opportunity to make new contacts and forge new cooperations with guests.

Japan International Cooperation Agency dispatches the Information Collection mission on Japan-Africa Business Women Exchange Program in four countries- Tunisia, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso in the aim of collecting the basic information about the surrounding environment and challenges faced by African business women. The findings of this survey will be utilized to formulate the 2nd African Women’s Business Development Seminar which will be held in Japan from 26th January to February 6th, 2015.

The West African Women Association is a consortium of women owned non- governmental and developmental organizations within the West African sub-region under the ECOWAS umbrella.