Rotimi Agbana
The First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, has raised the capital base of 500 Oyo State small-scale women business owners with N50,000, through her programme, the Women Economic Empowerment Programme of the Renewed Hope Initiative.
The beneficiaries received the funds on Monday, at an event held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Tinubu said the empowerment was intended to boost the entrepreneurial spirit of women traders and small-scale business owners who determinedly strove each day to provide for their children, educate their children and uplift their communities.
The First Lady was represented at the event by the wife of the Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Tamunominini Makinde.
She said the money was not a loan, but a grant and a seed of renewed hope, meant to assist small-scale women business owners to recapitalise their existing businesses.
“It is my firm belief that when you empower a woman, you empower a household, a community, and indeed, a nation.
“I thank the Tony Elumelu Foundation, who donated one billion naira to the Renewed Hope Initiative, to directly support 18,500 women across the nation.
“Five hundred women from each of the 36 states and the FCT will be receiving N50,000 each to strengthen and recapitalise their existing small businesses.
“I thank the Tony Elumelu Foundation once again for this support. May this act of generosity inspire many more across our nation,” Tinubu said.
Speaking at the event, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs Toyin Balogun, appreciated RHI for the empowerment.
Balogun enjoined the empowered beneficiaries not to see the money as a token for their financial turnaround, but to be used judiciously.
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