Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and WAOH Support Foundation, initiated by the Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Dr Olayemi Oyebanji, yesterday, empowered 3,300 Ekiti women with grants for small-scale businesses and working tools.

The sum of N50,000 cash grant was presented to 2,000 women, while 1,300 women were supported with economic empowerment tools to strengthen women-led businesses and expand economic opportunities at the community level.

Oyebanji, who presided over the empowerment programme at a grand event termed “Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) empowerment of 2,000 petty traders and Ekiti First Lady’s Mega Empowerment” held at Osuntokun Pavilion, Government House, Ado Ekiti, reiterated the commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Biodun Oyebanji to supporting petty traders and improving family livelihoods of widows and the vulnerable people.

The empowerment items and support distributed include deep freezers, generators, sewing machines, grinding machines, hair-dressers’ kits, agricultural inputs such as modern farm sprayers as well as direct cash grants.

According to the governor’s wife, the initiative is a strategic effort aimed at strengthening small-scale enterprises owned by women. and expanding grassroots economic opportunities to achieve inclusive wealth creation and poverty alleviation at all levels.

Oyebanji expressed profound appreciation to Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu for her numerous interventions in Ekiti State, particularly the commissioning of an ICT Centre at Ekiti State University (EKSU) and a N100 million empowerment grant for 2,000 women as well as the various supports the state had received from her initiatives since 2023.