By Anas Yushau Yusuf
The technological explosion in computing as well as the rise of social media brought about changes in both social and business life. In addition to the rise in the pace of Globalization, social media has accelerated the rate of interconnectivity among the human race. The ease with which information can be shared has brought about numerous opportunities to businesses which includes but not limited to easier access to consumers, building brand awareness as well as promotion of goods and services.
Incessant rise in the rate of unemployment among graduates in Nigeria has forced many to adopt entrepreneurship as a source of income and means of lively hood. This article would focus on how women entrepreneurs in Northern Nigeria have adopted social media to drive sales and how it has impacted on improving their standard of living.
According to DataReportal, as at January 2021. There were morethan 33 million social media users in Nigeria equivalent to about 15.8% of the population. Women in Northern Nigeria have in the last five years identified this huge market potential and migrated most of their business to social media the most popular of which are Instagram and Facebook.
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Goods and services from clothing and apparel, foods, cosmetics, logistics, phones and accessories, furniture, electronics just to mention a few are all advertised and sold in the Northern social media cyberspace. Also very popular on Instagram spaces and using their followership to run adverts; are Several pages on marriage counselling and relationship advice like Northern Hibiscus, Northern Marriages, Northern Blog and Open Diaries.
This new trend has made a lot of women engaged in various economic activities without even government support. The combined effect of this is the overall reduction in poverty rate as well as improvement in their standards of living. One of the huge task ahead of those in authority is to advance more financial support to these women so as to increase the possibility of their businesses to expand and employ more people.
Anas Yushau an analyst wrote this from Kano,he can be reached via anasyushau2015@gmail.com
