Seventy women with disabilities in Lagos have received a significant boost to their economic prospects after they benefited from a N4.7 million empowerment organised by Sightsavers, Unilever Nigeria Plc, and Growing Businesses Foundation (GBF).
The initiative, it was gathered, aims to empower these women through entrepreneurship and business skills development.
According to Programme Officer at Sightsavers, Ms Anita Kevin, “We planned to train 100 women with disabilities in Lagos, and we have reached the 100, but having screened them, we got 70 who are ready to have access to the business skills. We are giving each of the 70 women a ‘business basket’ worth N60,000 to start a business or add it to their existing businesses.”
The project is part of Sightsavers’ Strengthening Access to Business Education and Inclusion (SABI) Woman project, which targets young girls and women with disabilities.
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The initiative aims to promote entrepreneurship, enhance employability, and advocate for inclusion in the financial sector.
Ms Kevin explained that the beneficiaries underwent a four-day training program with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to learn essential business skills, including customer relations, digital marketing, and sales record-keeping.
To ensure the project’s success and sustainability, Sightsavers collaborated with GBF, which will provide Retail Sales Representatives (RSPs) to monitor the beneficiaries’ progress.
“The RSPs will track the record and progress of the beneficiaries’ business on a weekly basis, make sure that the women keep the right sales record, and also restock their products when need be,” Ms Kevin said.
One of the beneficiaries, Ms Christiana Olowolagba, expressed her gratitude to the organisers for the support.
“I am surprised that such opportunity has been existing for 10 years now. PWDs have been looking for such, especially because we are getting the product directly from the company at company price.
“They have also made everything easy for us because the RSPs will be delivering the products for us at our doorsteps,” she said.
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