A group of Nigerian mothers raising children with cerebral palsy have been given the chance to learn business skills and digital skills to improve their livelihoods while managing the challenges of caregiving.

The one-week program, called the Empowered Mothers, Thriving Children Bootcamp, was organised by the Special Needs Initiative for Growth (SNIG) in partnership with The Let Cerebral Palsy Kids Learn Foundation. The bootcamp, which ended on July 5, 2025, trained ten mothers on how to start and grow small businesses while caring for their children.

The women were taught how to manage money, attract customers, sell products online, and plan for their future. They also received mentoring and support from experts in business, finance, and digital marketing.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Racheal Inegbedion, Founder of the Special Needs Initiative for Growth, encouraged the mothers to see this experience not as a favour but as a right, an opportunity to take hold of innovative practical tools they could use immediately to improve their financial standing.

“This is not charity,” she said, “It’s about equipping you with the tools to take back control, financially, socially, and emotionally. Our country will not move forward if we continue to leave mothers of children with disabilities behind.”

Tobiloba Ajayi, Founder of The Let Cerebral Palsy Kids Learn Foundation, addressed the mothers directly, urging them to “be intentional in how they take in this knowledge, because your success is not only for you. It’s for your child, your household, and your community.”

The bootcamp was tightly packed with practical sessions ranging from bookkeeping and customer service to digital marketing and pitching for funding.

Experts such as Wonu Akintunde, a Board Trustee of SNIG, alongside organisations like Mamamoni, Amdi Salam, Seun Sangoleye, and several other facilitators, equipped the mothers with skills on business planning, savings strategies, and customer engagement.

On the other side of the room, their children were not forgotten. Under the watch of dedicated support staff, including special needs educators and STEM coaches, children with cerebral palsy engaged in activities that supported their physical, cognitive, and social development.

Using adapted STEM kits, the children explored interactive learning tools, some for the very first time. This simultaneous model, training the mothers while supporting their children, demonstrated a scalable strategy that could be adopted by governments and institutions focused on inclusive educational development.

A particularly inspiring segment was when alumni of previous cohorts, who have expanded their ventures after attending this programme, returned to share their journeys. Their stories, grounded in everyday struggles and steady progress, lit up the room.

The culmination of the training came during the business pitch session, where each mother presented her enterprise before a panel of judges. The three top performers, Precious Saint Ogbu (1st Place), Fadipe Idowu Adeosun (2nd Place), and Adefemi Joy (3rd Place), were awarded enterprise grants. All other participants received support grants, with the children receiving STEM kits to continue learning at home.

Wonu Akintunde, Director from SNIG, said, “We have to stop treating economic empowerment and disability support as separate issues. In this programme, we do both at once, and that is where the impact lies.”

Since 2019, over 65 mothers and their children have taken part in this training across Nigeria. Many of the women have gone on to start businesses and have now become local employers, trainers, and role models in their communities.