Telecom
Uganda, Ghana and Botswana have Highest Percentage of Women Businesses owners in the world
The 2020 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) has once again ranked Uganda (39.6%), Botswana (38.5%) and Ghana (36.5%) as the world’s three leading economies having the most women business owners.
The Index’s benchmark indicator is calculated as a percentage of total businesses owners, and all three countries have grown their percentages since last year (2019).
Now in its fourth year, the MIWE highlights the vast socio-economic contribution of women entrepreneurs around the world, as well as provides insights on the factors driving and inhibiting their advancement.
Through a unique methodology – drawing on publicly available data from leading international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and International Labour Organization – MIWE 2020 includes a global ranking of the advancement of women in business in pre-pandemic conditions across 58 economies representing almost 80% of the global female labor force. This includes eight countries across Sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda).
All but one (Botswana) of the Sub-Saharan African countries captured in the report showed improved MIWE scores since the last edition. South Africa displayed the biggest growth with a 7% increase from [60.2 score to 64.4].
Botswana however has also grown the number of women entrepreneurs since last year (36% in 2019 to 38.5% in 2020), earning the country the second spot globally and displacing Ghana who now comes in third.
The results also point to a strong representation of women business owners in Malawi, Angola and Nigeria, despite the economic and social challenges facing their entrepreneurial ecosystems.
According to the report, the high scores are spurred by a low fear of business failure, an absence of alternative income sources, and an eager commitment to contribute to their communities.
The report demonstrates that a high regard for risk taking, innovativeness, individuality and creativeness in entrepreneurship is prevalent in Uganda, Nigeria and Angola.
The report also notes the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurs around the world, with 87% saying they have been adversely affected.
Overrepresentation in sectors hardest hit by the economic downturn, the pronounced digital gender gap in an increasingly virtual world, and the mounting pressures of childcare responsibilities are only a few factors that have left women particularly vulnerable.
In Ghana, for instance, a sectoral breakdown reveals that a large proportion of women-owned businesses (85.1%) operate in highly impacted sectors compared to 50.5% for men.
In Uganda, 61% of women-led small businesses failed to generate income even as lockdown measures were eased.
Ifeoma Dozie, director, Marketing and Communications, Sub-Saharan Africa, Mastercard, said “Our findings beckon us to consider the cost of untapped potential in women as contributors, not just in business and society, but on the national and global scale, as we chart the path of post Covid-19 recovery across Africa.
“This is especially important as more women owned businesses will likely be impacted by the pandemic making the support through incentives, necessary tools, mentorship and digital inclusion platforms even more urgent.
“At Mastercard, we continue to partner with leading organizations across Africa and around the world to create safe and accessible digitized payment solutions for female owned small businesses across Africa”.
Opportunities ahead
Despite the obvious challenges, the report highlights a number of opportunities for women in the COVID-19 era, particularly in online shopping and digital commerce. These have been supported by Mastercard research.
A recent Mastercard study revealed the exponential growth of e-commerce in Africa – with 81% of people surveyed in Nigeria, 72% in Tanzania, 68% in Ivory Coast, and 79% in both Kenya and Ghana saying they have been shopping more online since the pandemic began.
As the pandemic presents new business opportunities for women, especially in terms of online shopping and services, ensuring access to technology or digital solutions, affordable data and modern trade resources will empower more women to succeed in business.
The MIWE report is just one component in Mastercard’s broader mission to advance female entrepreneurs and small businesses. In 2020, Mastercard expanded its worldwide financial inclusion commitment, pledging to bring a total of one billion people and 50 million micro and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025.
As part of this effort, there will be a direct focus on providing 25 million women entrepreneurs with solutions that can help them grow their businesses, through a range of initiatives crossing funding, mentoring and the development of inclusive technologies.
Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has named the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) among the top three Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government with the Best Ranking in Website Performance for 2025.
L-R: Head Special Projects, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Salamatu Andu; Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Engr. Abaraham Oshadame; Director General Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Head Customer Support Service, Galaxy Backbone, Rosemary Ehize; Secretary to the ES. Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Tahir Aminu at the BPSR award ceremony for top four MDAs in BPSR Website Performance and Ranking 2025 at the BPSR office on Tuesday, 23rd December, 2025.
This is coming barely three weeks after the telecom regulator was recognized as one of the top five best-performing Federal Government agencies for 2025 by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) – a testament to the Commission’s consistency in investment in technology for ensuring efficient service delivery.
In the BPSR 2024/2025 scorecard ranking of agencies’ websites, the NCC came second in the ranking, trailing behind Galaxy Backbone Limited, which came first while the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) clinched the third position, from a pool of 235 MDAs, whose website were evaluated.
BPSR deployed 14 evaluation criteria in include MDA’s website compliance with .gov.ng domain name, appearance and aesthetics (look and feel) of the website, content, relevance to MDAs mandate/government policy and the website’ structure.
Others include website’s responsiveness (device compatibility), security, load time, usability/ease of navigation, availability/uptime, functionality, interactivity, accessibility and capacity building.
The recognition was announced at the official release of Federal Government 2024/2025 Scorecard Ranking for MDAs’ Website held at the Federal Ministry of Finance Auditorium in Abuja on Monday (December 22, 2025) while the award presentation took place at BPSR’s Office on Tuesday (December 23, 2025).
The award, which is an important index metric of the National e-Government Masterplan for determining the Nigeria e-Government Status, was received by the Commission in recognition of its commitment to maintaining a world-class website that enhances service delivery to the citizens.
Receiving the award on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, the NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Abraham Oshadami, appreciated the BPSR for the recognition, describing the award as “another encouragement for the Commission to be a better public service institution leveraging digital platforms such as our web presence to enhance public service delivery to our various stakeholders, thereby implementing the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business policy direction.”
While presenting the award to the NCC, alongside other two agencies, BPSR’s Director-General, Mr. Dasuki Arabi, commended the top three for their proactive decisions in maintaining world-class websites, which are compliant with the Federal Government’s policy direction in effective and efficient service delivery to the citizens.
According to the DG, the 2024/2025 MDA’s websites’ ranking represents a collective effort of federal public institutions in Nigeria to be transparent, accountable and open in governance, as well as a confirmation to align with global best practices in service delivery to the citizens.
Developed about six years ago, Arabi said as a result of the annual ranking, more public institutions have indicated readiness to embrace reforms, and align with the policy direction of the current administration’s Renewed Hope agenda on improve governance for effective service delivery, as introduced by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The ideals of harnessing and deploying technological tools for service delivery has become imperative following the COVID pandemic, and distortions of socio-economic system of nations, culminating in the evolution of competitiveness, cost effectiveness, and agile governance.
“As engine room of governance, it behoves on us in the public service to perform our statutory duties and we must put in place technological innovations and standardized websites to operate services as well as deliver service needs to citizens,” he said.
The Scorecard exercise, he said, is part of the BPSR reform broader function of conducting research on reform implementation efforts and presenting ‘best practice’ models to the entire Public Service, and to among others, improve access to government information, facilitate seamless financial transaction, eliminate corruption and cyber theft, as well as facilitate access to government services.
Speaking on the rigorous nature of the exercise that produced the top three winners, the DG said “in the past few weeks members of the Scorecard Jury drawn from inter-Ministerial Agencies, had worked tirelessly to mill websites of selected MDAs through a rigorous process of enduring criteria for the ranking and the outcome had also passed through a quality assurance mechanism to validate the outcome.”
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has dismissed reports that bank accounts not linked to a Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be frozen or automatically debited from January 1, 2026.
Taiwo Oyedele
Oyedele described the claims as false and misleading, warning Nigerians against panic over misinformation surrounding recent tax and financial reforms.
In a post on his X handle Tuesday morning, he wrote: “Don’t let anyone manipulate you. Your bank account is safe. Misinformation makes you panic and fear a reform that is designed to help you.
“When they tell you that your account will be frozen or automatically debited from January 2026, ask them for the evidence in the new law. Be wise.”
He stressed that no provision in the new tax laws authorises the freezing of bank accounts, adding that the rumours are part of widespread misrepresentation of the reforms.
The committee chairman reiterated that the reforms are intended to simplify Nigeria’s tax system and ease the burden on ordinary citizens, not to impose punitive measures on bank customers.
US tech giant, Amazon has disclosed that it blocked more than 1,800 North Koreans from applying for jobs, amid growing concerns that Pyongyang is deploying large numbers of IT workers overseas to earn and launder funds.
Amazon
In a LinkedIn post, Amazon’s Chief Security Officer, Stephen Schmidt, said North Korean nationals have been attempting to secure remote IT roles with companies around the world, particularly in the United States.
He noted that the company recorded nearly a one-third increase in such applications over the past year.
According to Schmidt, many of the applicants operate through so-called “laptop farms” — computers physically located in the US but remotely controlled from abroad.
He warned that the issue is not unique to Amazon and is likely occurring at scale across the tech industry.
He added that common red flags include incorrectly formatted phone numbers and questionable academic credentials.
The issue has previously drawn the attention of US authorities. In July, a woman in Arizona was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for running a laptop farm that helped North Korean IT workers obtain remote jobs at more than 300 US companies.
Officials said the scheme generated over $17 million in revenue for both the woman and North Korea.
Last year, South Korea’s intelligence agency also warned that North Korean operatives were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters, approaching South Koreans working at defence companies in an attempt to steal sensitive technological information.
“North Korea is actively training cyber personnel and infiltrating key locations worldwide,” Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.
He added that, given Amazon’s business model, the motivation behind such operations is largely economic, with a high likelihood of attempts to steal financial assets.
North Korea’s cyber warfare programme dates back to at least the mid-1990s and has since expanded into a cyber unit of about 6,000 personnel known as Bureau 121, according to a 2020 US military report.
In November, Washington announced sanctions against eight individuals accused of being state-sponsored hackers, alleging their illicit activities were carried out to fund North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
The US Treasury has also accused North Korea-linked cybercriminals of stealing more than $3 billion over the past three years, primarily through cryptocurrency-related crimes.
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