The Heart of Gold Empowerment Outreach has empowered 30 indigent individuals in the Idumu Ikhala Community of Edo State in productive skills.
 
Beneficiaries of the outreach’s 2025 empowerment edition were equipped with basic working tools in salon and hairdressing, dress-making and fashion design, baking and confectionery, grinding machine operations, plumbing works, welding, fabrication and spray painting.
 
In the words of the empowerment initiator, Mrs Ehiagwina Joy Patrick, Erelu Yeyemeso of Ikoyi Ekiti, the initiative was targeted at promoting self-reliance, skills development and poverty reduction in Edo Central.
   
While declaring the programme, tagged “Empower to Bloom,” opened at Idumu Ikhala, Uromi, in a well-attended ceremony, Mrs Patrick harped on the rationale behind the empowerment scheme, citing that it is aimed at building individuals who have entrepreneurial potentials but lack the needed support to thrive and turn it into sustainable livelihoods.
 
She said: “The number of beneficiaries for this year’s edition had doubled from 15 in 2024 to 30 in 2025, despite prevailing economic challenges in the country.

“At about this time last year, 15 carefully selected beneficiaries across gender, age and social status were empowered with critical support materials.
 
“The feedback from our monitoring team shows that our confidence in them was well placed, as many have begun to experience positive changes in their lives. “
 
Patrick explained that the success stories from the 2024 edition strengthened their resolve to scale up the initiative in 2025, thereby providing opportunities for more people to become economically productive and independent.
 
She further disclosed that while the maiden edition of the empowerment programme was limited to Idijie Community, the 2025 edition has been expanded to include Idumu Ikhala Community, which also played host to this year’s event.