As part of activities marking the 10th anniversary of the passing of Late Adefunke Fadeni, mother of renowned real estate developer Engr Koleola Fadeni, the Funke Fadeni Foundation on Tuesday provided support to more than 4,000 underprivileged residents in Ondo City, Ondo State.

The empowerment was held at the deceased country home in Ondo City and had Indigent women receiving bags of rice and financial support.

Speaking at the event, the Group Managing Director of KSI Group, Engr. Fadeni, advised women to look into establishing themselves in businesses before looking up to government to do other things for them.

He said the empowerment initiative was part of the five-day event organised by the foundation to celebrate the memory of his mother as she was interested in the welfare of people while alive.

He said: “What we are doing here today is that we are seeing how we can reach the people that are in need. Like widows, single mothers, people that really need help. Even though we have been doing it in other places like Bwari Area Council in Abuja, Akure and other places, we decided to replicate it here, because I’m from Ondo town. We also used the opportunity to also mark the 10 years remembrance of my mum.

“So that’s why we said, this time around, we need to come and do what we have been doing in other places in my hometown. My advice to every woman out there is to work hard and not lose hope. I know the country is not really balanced, but every women should find something to do for a living.

“We have youths we trained on different skills for over two weeks. Everyone should have what he or she is doing for a living. We should at least have what we are doing before we think about the government. We have been doing a lot in the foundation and we are still planning to do more for the empowerment of women.

“We’ll continue to give them clothes and money to start businesses. We pray to God to continue to bless all our partners so that we can continue to do more for humanity.

“My advice to government is to see the need to reach out to our people. We know it’s not easy and government is trying to do their best, but I don’t think the best is enough. I think we have to do more. For instance, our president will always say that they begged for that office before they entered there. So, what we begged for before we entered, at least, we should not be tired to do the right thing.

“We are praying for them and God will continue to be with us and give our government the strength to do more. I  know that even some of the politicians or government agencies know that they’re supposed to reach people, but  sometimes the people that the information are passing through are the ones that are frustrating their effort most times.

“The advisers are the ones that are supposed to be putting their eyes, but they are not letting our leaders to see everything that’s going on. So, I pray that they’re going to have good people that they will work with, because even if leaders want to work, if the governor wants to work, if the president wants to work, if the senator wants to work, if they don’t have good people around them to work with, they will fail.”

Many of the beneficiaries lauded the Foundation for the empowerment initiative, describing it as timely and impactful in alleviating their economic challenges.

They expressed gratitude for the gesture, noting that the support would go a long way in improving their livelihoods and providing relief amid prevailing hardships.