200 women empowered with skills in Kaduna
About 200 women drawn from the 23 local government areas of Kaduna state have been empowered with skills in a bid to reduce poverty in their families.
The women were also supported with start-up grants and various tools by AlManar Women Association (AMWA), a Kaduna-based non-governmental organisation.
The training with the theme: “Business Creation and Development, Stimulating Start-ups,” had in attendance household entrepreneurs and business scholars to empower the participants including poor widows, single mothers, orphans, Internally Displaced Persons and survivors of domestic violence, among others.
Arewa Trust gathered that accompanying the training was a package of N25,000 take-off grant allocated to each of the participants.
Similarly another amount was used to procure petty trading tools that were distributed to beneficiaries alongside stipends ranging between N3,000 and N5,000, as logistics to start the new business.
AMWA Ameerah/President, Hajiya Rabi Umar Sodangi said the association, which was founded 13-year-ago, has rescued, economically rehabilitated and reintegrated as many as 15,000 people affected by insurgency, poverty as well as victims of HIV/AIDS, through its various restoration and rebuilding initiatives.
While noting that the foundation was established to cater for the less privileged in the society, she called on well-meaning Nigerians to emulate what the association is doing to address the worrying effect of poverty in the Nigeria.
In his lecture, the lead presenter, Chairman, Sidi & Sons Group of Companies, Abubakar Dansadau, told the trainees that the key to unlocking the art and science of a successful business was to understand its basic principles.
“Businesses are primarily designed to fulfil customers’ desires and not the business person’s desires.
“Conducting enough feasibility study about the chosen business; understanding the terrain of such business and how best the customers want to be served or serviced are the guaranteed steps to succeeding.”
Delivering another paper, Alhaji Mahdi Shehu, Chairman, Dialogue Group of Companies, emphasised the need to observe operational codes of any business in order to be successful
“There is no doubt, when diligently followed, these preconditions can even rub off positively on private lives, including the possibility to put our society on a sound footing. They are capable of leading to a prosperous society and economy.”
One of the beneficiaries, Bilkisu Aliyu, a 30-year-old mother of two children, who was until the workshop, a full house wife, said she has now been highly transformed and promised to motivate young business owners.
“I was not working before. But now, after this training, I have realised the need for a woman to be gainfully engaged.
“Luckily for me, I have started something at this training. I’ve realized that nobody does danwake (beans dumplings, eaten with maggi, salt, pepper and oil) in my neighbourhood. So, I have started marketing it to my neighbors as we were told. Now AMWA has also given me all materials including pot and stove to start my business.
“Alhamdulillah, I now know that I need to keep up the business for my dignity. I’m going to think and come up with my vision and set my goals. I’ll also plan how to market my product too,” she added, beaming with smile.
Another beneficiary, Hafsat Aliyu, a 20-year-old housewife said her husband’s inability to provide her financial needs had earlier prompted her into starting a petty business of frying Masa, a popular rice cake delicacy but she was unable to make a headway due to lack of capital.
“But at this training, Alhamdulillah, I have learnt a lot on how to market and package my masa. I have a vision to be producing masa of a bag of rice daily with two rams and 200 peices of chicken and selling all daily. My name Hafsa mai masa will be known all over, people will order my masa from Abuja, Insha Allahu.
“I have no capital to start the business before, but AMWA has now given me the rice, stoves, masa pan, soup pot and N5,000 to buy other materials to start masa business. I’ll start informing my neighbours in preparation to market my masa as I learnt in this workshop.
“Before, sometimes my husband will not answer me when I request for something or money, but now that I have a business, I can do a lot for myself and I can even give him money to support him.”