Redefining Gender Inclusion, Access, and Empowerment in Nigeria’s Mobility Sector
A Partnership Built on Possibility
On November 28, 2025, Women Impacting Nigeria (WIN) and Coscharis Mobility Limited signed a partnership agreement that signals a fundamental shift in how Nigeria’s mobile sector approaches gender inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, and skills development for young women across Nigeria.
This isn’t a standard corporate social responsibility announcement. It’s a declaration that the road to opportunity in Nigeria’s transport and mobility sectors should be open to everyone and that real change in women’s leadership and gender inclusion requires more than good intentions. It requires skills, mentorship, safety awareness, confidence, and structural pathways to opportunity.
The Girls Behind the Wheel initiative, spearheaded by Women Impacting Nigeria founder Adesuwa Imasekha and her team, is designed to do exactly that, positioning women empowerment in Nigeria as not just a social goal, but an economic and sectoral transformation.
What is Girls Behind the Wheel?
A comprehensive CSR programme providing young women with professional driving skills, road safety expertise, vehicle maintenance knowledge, FRSC compliance training, career mentorship, and empowerment workshops all designed to create real pathways into an industry where women remain critically underrepresented.
The Invisibility Problem: Women in Nigeria’s Mobility Sector
Walk into any transport company, fleet management firm, or driving school in Nigeria, and you’ll notice something immediately: women are missing. Not completely absent but dramatically underrepresented in professional roles, technical positions, and industry leadership.
This isn’t unique to Nigeria. Globally, women make up less than 3% of professional truck drivers, less than 5% of transportation management roles, and hold less than 1% of automotive industry leadership positions. But Nigeria’s numbers are even more stark.
Why Does This Matter?
When women are excluded from sectors, several things happen simultaneously:
- Economic opportunity shrinks ; Women miss access to stable, well-paying employment in industries with genuine growth potential
- Talent is wasted : Entire sectors operate at reduced capacity, missing the skills and perspectives women would bring
- Structural inequality deepens ; When women can’t access certain industries, economic inequality becomes entrenched as ‘natural’
- Communities lose; When women can’t participate economically, their families, their communities, and the broader economy suffer
The mobility sector specifically matters because it’s not just an industry it’s a pathway. Professional driving certifications, fleet management roles, vehicle maintenance expertise, and transportation logistics positions offer stable income, advancement opportunities, and economic independence. For young women in Nigeria facing limited employment options, access to this sector could be transformational.
Beyond Representation: What Real Gender Inclusion Looks Like
Here’s where many corporate gender initiatives fail: they confuse representation with inclusion. A company can hire more women and still not create an inclusive environment where women actually thrive. Real gender inclusion requires structural change.
The Three Pillars of Real Inclusion
- Access to Skills : Women can’t participate in industries where they haven’t had training
- Safety & Confidence : When women lack skills, they lack confidence. When they lack confidence, they don’t pursue opportunities
- Networks & Mentorship : Access and confidence mean nothing without connection
Why This Partnership Structure Matters
Many well-meaning CSR programmes fail because they’re designed top-down, without deep understanding of community needs or realistic pathways to implementation.
The WIN-Coscharis partnership is different:
- Coscharis brings: 30+ years of automotive industry expertise, state-of-the-art training facilities, FRSC-certified instruction, real employment connections, and credibility within the sector
WIN brings: Deep community roots, proven track record in skills training and women’s empowerment, participant recruitment expertise, ongoing mentorship infrastructure, and a commitment to transformational change
“Girls Behind the Wheel represents everything Women Impacting Nigeria stands for: creating real pathways to opportunity where women can build independence, confidence, and leadership. This isn’t just about driving. It’s about women taking control of their futures and transforming Nigeria’s economy in the process. When we invest in women’s empowerment through tangible skills and genuine mentorship, we’re not just changing individual lives, we’re building the foundation for a more inclusive, prosperous Nigeria.”
— Adesuwa Imasekha, Founder, Women Impacting Nigeria
Beyond Representation: What Real Gender Inclusion Looks Like
Girls Behind the Wheel isn’t just a training programme. It’s a comprehensive empowerment framework structured across six core dimensions:
1. Professional Driving
Industry-standard theoretical and practical training in professional driving competency, including defensive driving and complex road scenarios.
2. Road Safety Mastery
Comprehensive safety education that goes beyond ‘don’t speed’ real training in hazard recognition, emergency response, and accident prevention.
3. Vehicle Expertise
Practical knowledge of vehicle inspection, basic maintenance, troubleshooting, and repairmaking participants valuable in any transport operation.
4. Regulatory Compliance
Complete training aligned with FRSC standards, ensuring participants meet all legal requirements and understand Nigeria’s transportation regulations.
5. Industry Mentorship
Direct connection with experienced professionals in the mobility sector, providing guidance, advice, and real pathways to employment opportunities.
6. Empowerment Workshops
Customized sessions building confidence, resilience, negotiation skills, and the psychological foundation for sustained success in professional environments.
Beyond Representation: What Real Gender Inclusion Looks Like
What does transformational change in Nigeria’s mobility sector look like? In five years, what will become possible?
- Young women working as professional drivers, fleet managers, and transport operators throughout Nigeria
- Women starting their own mobility businesses and creating employment for others
- Families with mothers who have economic independence and professional stability
- Young girls growing up seeing women as drivers, managers, and leaders in transport
- The mobility sector itself recognizing that excellence has no gender, that the best drivers, managers, and business leaders might be women
- Other companies replicating the model, creating industry-wide transformation
Join the Movement
Girls Behind the Wheel is more than a training programme. It’s a declaration of possibility in the broader conversation about women’s empowerment in Nigeria. It says to young women across Nigeria: your ambitions belong here. Your skills are needed. Your leadership matters.
This is the work of Women Impacting Nigeria and leader Adesuwa Imasekha, creating tangible pathways for women empowerment, advancing gender inclusion, and positioning Nigerian women as leaders in sectors where they’ve historically been invisible.
If you’re a young woman ready to take control of your future, to gain professional skills in a growth sector, to build confidence, independence, and leadership capabilities, this is your moment to be part of a transformational women’s empowerment initiative.
If you’re an organization, business leader, or supporter who believes in the power of structural change, gender inclusion, and women’s economic participation, we’re building a movement for women’s empowerment across Nigeria and we want you part of it.
The road to opportunity should be open to every girl. Let’s build the pathways together.
Girls Behind the Wheel is a partnership between Women Impacting Nigeria (WIN) led by founder Adesuwa Imaskha, and Coscharis Mobility Limited. This initiative represents a commitment to women’s empowerment in Nigeria, gender inclusion in the mobility sector, and advancing women leadership across Nigeria’s economy.