The President of the United States Government Exchange Alumni Association (USGEAA), Mr Mike Okwoche, has advocated for the need to empower women entrepreneurs to grow our society and the nation at large.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the United States Government Exchange Alumni Association (USGEAA) Women Entrepreneurship Training (UWET), which was held on Friday at the American Corner, Lagos, Okowoche charged women not to relent in their pursuit of creativity.
He stated why the training was organised and why it was targeted toward women entrepreneurs.
He said: “We decided to organise this so that we can give women a platform and exposure to different kinds of investments or investors or grant opportunities or funding opportunities so that they can blossom. It has become so passionate for us to empower women so that the society becomes empowered because women are the mothers of society.”
“Also, we are happy and grateful to the US mission in Nigeria, the US Consulate particularly, in Lagos for the support to organise this for these women,” he added.
One of the facilitators, the managing consultant and director of Leapworld Ltd, Dr Funke Medun, addressed the participants on the importance of accounting systems, bookkeeping, taxation, and financial management for business improvement and sustainability.
She, therefore, assured of her organisation’s support for the women in making their MSMEs thrive.
“We have several partnerships. We consult for organisations that provide funding, and we provide capacity design for those that want to access those funds as well. We could work with them to assess funding adds a single digital marketing digit with the Bank of Industry, and we provide support.
They were introduced to the transforming Nigerian Youth Programme, which gives them access to many support interventions, like helping them to register their businesses, have trademarks websites, digital supportive and consulting services for free,” she pledged.
The Lagos State Manager Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bunmi Kole-Dawodu, assured the women of the agency’s intervention programs at intervals.
In his words, the president of the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI), Mr Olusola Owonikoko, who described entrepreneurs as the foundation of any economy, charged them with the need to prioritise effective communication in dealing with their staff and customers.
He also promised to hold a joint networking session between CYFI and the participants of the empowerment programme.
One of the participants, Adejumoke Gbadehan, a catering company owner in Lagos, described the three-day training as impactful, insightful, and timely for her and many others, promising to add the knowledge acquired to her business.
The project manager of the USGEAA, Obasanjo Fajemirokun, spoke on the projection of the body towards the exercise.
He says, “This is done to give back to Lagos State, which is our state of operations. And when we came up with the idea that we needed to empower entrepreneurs in Lagos, we were focused majorly on empowering 50 women, particularly because women entrepreneurs are sometimes marginalised.
We saw a lot of opportunities going out to the male intrapreneurs most time, so we wanted to empower them, equip them, and give them a network to thrive on. We came up with this and got a grant from the US Consulate, which is the major sponsor of this project.”
The 50 women, who were trained in financial management, business structure, growth strategies, and scaling business pitch as well as branding and communications, are expected to end the programme in September and will jostle for a grand prize of N1,000,000.
Article Credits: Nigerian Tribune