It was excitement galore at the office of Rotary International District 9110 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos State, recently, when the club distributed economic empowerment tools free of charge to 102 women and youths to enable them start a business or boost existing ones.
The empowerment project, which was executed by the club in partnership with First Bank of Nigeria Limited, the Rotary Club of Singapore and the Tolaram Group, saw the beneficiaries comprising fashion designers, caterers, beauticians and others going home with various items, which the club said cost about N20 million to procure.
These included shoe filing machines, stoning machines, sewing machines, grills and umbrellas, gas cylinders, baking ovens, standing hair dryers, complete make up kits, clippers, among others.
Speaking at the event, the District Governor, Rotary International District 9110, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Rita Ejezie explained that the calling of Rotarians is to do good in the world, hence the empowerment project.
“Rotary is a humanitarian organisation; the biggest and largest in the world. We have eight areas of focus within which on a yearly basis we touch lives. One of them is economic empowerment. So, today we have fulfilled this area of focus of the club by touching the lives of over 102 participants that have been trained in different vocations,” she said.
She explained that the club raised the fund for the project through partnership with corporate bodies and high-net-worth individuals.
She added: “For today’s event, we partnered with First Bank of Nigeria, Rotary Club of Singapore, and Tolaram Group. So, jointly, we put this together.
“And what I can tell the beneficiaries is that God has remembered them today. We have empowered them in the different businesses they do and they should maintain the equipment and use it well so that in future, if we see how far they have used what we have given them today, we may remember them again and do more for them.”
Project Coordinator/District Governor Designate 2026/27, Bukola Bakare, explained that all the items were given out free of charge to the beneficiaries.
“We carried out a needs assessment. We went to trade unions and they gave us participants from there. So, we invited over 350 participants. We did need analyses until we were able to narrow the list down to 102 beneficiaries because we didn’t just want to give anything; it has to be something that is useful to the beneficiaries,” she explained.
Bakare urged those who would want to benefit in the future to apply through their trade unions. “Those are the only organisations we can partner with. Let me also say this: Rotary built a vocational centre at Igbogbo so we look there while selecting our beneficiaries. We selected 22 beneficiaries from the Rotary Vocational Centre. Those are the people that have been trained and were struggling to buy one equipment or the other. We also made sure that the beneficiaries cut across the major tribes in Nigeria,” she added.
The Unit Head, SME Product at First Bank, Helen Ihonre, said the bank keyed into the initiative because it aligns with its goal of giving back to society. While urging the beneficiaries to put the equipment to good use, Ihonre said the bank was willing to do more.
“As a bank, we are willing to do more. So, we believe that this partnership will continue,” she said.
The Head of Lagos State Agency for Mass Education, Mrs. Oluwakemi Kalesanwo, charged the beneficiaries not to sell the equipment, noting that the best way they can appreciate the donors is to use them well and become employers of labour in the future.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr. Uche Sunday, who was highly excited after receiving a generator, which he would use to expand his catering business, praised the donors for their gesture.
“I am very excited. This is the first time I am benefitting from anybody in this country. May God bless them. Wherever they took this money from, may God replenish them. I have a catering school but needed a generator to make it function well. So, from now on everything will be okay,” he said.
