The Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation (SEOF) has revealed that in 2024 it will be empowering and supporting secondary school students, underprivileged women, and local farmers with the resources they need to improve their skills, livelihoods, and communities.
The trustees of the foundation recently revealed this during the inaugural SEOF Gala Night in Lagos.
The founder and chairman of the foundation, Sir Emeka Okwuosa, noted that generosity and compassion are values that inspired him to establish the foundation.
He added that witnessing his fellow Nigerians endure hardships without attempting to alleviate their suffering is something he finds impossible.
“Each day, we are reminded of the challenges that our nation faces, from the strain on our economy and infrastructure to unsettling food insecurity,” he said.
Okwuosa noted that the foundation has been impacting lives and communities in over 14 states in Nigeria: Anambra, Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Abuja (FCT), Kogi, Oyo, Ekiti, Edo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Delta, Imo, and Abia.
He emphasised that sustainable socio-economic empowerment should be centred on providing market-facing skills and opportunities, particularly to the youth, who constitute the majority of the Nigerian and African populations.
The foundation stated that in 2024, they plan to establish new programmes such as the launching of a National Engineering Competition Award, the Women Enterprise Programme, and the Agro Cluster Cooperative Programme.
The National Engineering Competition Award aims to identify outstanding engineering students who have been working on innovative prototypes with real-world applications.
The competition is designed to encourage engineers and would-be engineers to work towards collectively solving Nigeria’s pressing challenges, with the aim of expanding the competition across the continent in future years.
The Women Enterprise Programme aims to support women entrepreneurs in scaling up their businesses through skill-building workshops, mentoring, networking opportunities, and access to funding and markets within their chosen sector.
The Agro Cluster Cooperative Programme aims to provide jobs and enhance food security—not only locally but also across the country—by providing farmers access to inputs and guaranteed offtake as a catalyst for more robust farming.
Speaking on these programmes, Okwuosa said, “Our goal is to teach beneficiaries how to fish so that they can feed themselves and their communities for a lifetime.”
Also, other notable and recent achievements of the foundation include the facilitation of $217,939 in open-heart surgeries for 34 patients at the Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Hospital (DIOMH) in 2022 and the provision of primary healthcare services to over 566 beneficiaries in the same year.
Others include the building of a garri processing factory and the donation of motorcycles to assist small business owners with their transportation businesses.
In light of these achievements and upcoming programmes, Okwuosa sought partnerships with well-meaning individuals and organisations, as they share a responsibility to effect positive change in people and communities.
“Together, I am confident we can unlock growth and opportunities that far surpass what we could achieve individually,” he said.
Trustees of the foundation stated that, in line with their mission and vision, they are dedicated to providing access to educational opportunities to students, quality and equitable healthcare for all, and socio-economic empowerment programmes that provide women, youth, and other underserved communities with marketable and in-demand skills.
They added, however, that the foundation’s efforts would be futile without the support of people who buy into their vision and are willing to partner with and sponsor them in breathing life into it.
Chibundu Okwuosa-Nwadei, a member of SEOF’s Board of Trustees, emphasised that lifting people and communities has always driven the work that they do to sustainably impact the lives of individuals they encounter.
She said that the funds raised from the event would go into their various programmes so that they could continue to create sustainable change in more communities across Nigeria.
In some of the displayed documentaries at the event, some of the trustees, staff, and beneficiaries of SOEF shared their stories, encounters, and experiences of how the foundation has impacted them and their communities.
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