A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Clarie Blair Foundation, based in the United Kingdom in collaboration with Nigeria-based Youth Technology Foundation yesterday empowered 2, 000 women in Mobile Value Added Services.
Programme manager of the Youth Technology Foundation, Mr. Ezekiel Nworie, who revealed this in Asaba, the Delta state capital, during the opening ceremony of the empowerment and training programme, said the empowerment-training capacity was the initiative of the wife of the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Nworie noted that the empowerment programme was packaged for 400 women each across five Niger Delta states, Abia, Imo, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Delta.
He, however, said the training had been extended to another five states, including Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu and Ebonyi.
According to him, the career women were mobilised via the Centre for Women and Child Development (CWCD), chaired by Mrs. Bridget Ayanfulu, to further get knowledge in manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing businesses.
He said: “The women were not just empowered and left in the shadows of the labour market but a technical-know-how follow up has been built-into the programme to enhance training and retraining of participants on online/networking business packages on how to source for funds.”
Dr. Stephen Chiemeke of the National Institute of Management (NIM) who delivered lecture on “Financing Your Business” x-rayed the various strategies involved in moving a small scale production to its higher level of entrepreneurship.
He exposed the participants, in his made-easy paper, to various ways bank loans could be accessed, pushed into businesses, get the desire result and in return, fulfill bank’s condition without stress.