Emerging Communities, has initiated discussions with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) to explore a potential partnership aimed at improving financial capacity and business sustainability among women artisans in Lagos.

The engagement, which took place at LSETF’s office in Ikeja on Tuesday,  21st April 2026, focused on aligning the organisation’s HERTISAN initiative with existing state-backed programs that support enterprise development and access to finance.

Present at the meeting was Dr Seyi Tyler, E.D Emerging  Communities, Abisola Akinyemi – Hertisan Team Member, Mrs. Olabisi – LSETF, Mrs. Tayo Akinwunmi – LSETF, Mr Mathieu – Head, Training School (LSETF).

Speaking during the meeting, our Executive Director, Dr. Seyi Tyler, highlighted a persistent gap within the artisan sector: while many women possess strong vocational skills, a lack of financial literacy and structured record-keeping continues to limit their ability to access funding and scale their businesses.

According to her, the HERTISAN programme was designed to address this challenge by equipping participants with practical tools for profit tracking, basic bookkeeping, and financial discipline.

The first cohort of the programme trained 50 women artisans. A second cohort, scheduled for August, is expected to expand to 150 participants and will incorporate additional elements including small grants, behavioural tracking mechanisms, and a trade fair to improve market access.

https://emergingcommunities.co/hertisan-cohort-1

Officials of LSETF, including representatives from its training and enterprise development teams, outlined the agency’s existing support structure, which includes vocational and business training, advisory services, and access to finance and markets.

Discussions also explored potential areas of collaboration, including integrating LSETF’s funding-readiness criteria into the HERTISAN training model to better prepare participants for loan access and business support opportunities.

LSETF indicated that broader collaboration may also involve the Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and the Ministry of Commerce, particularly in scaling the initiative.