<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arrangements have been finalised for takeoff of an Onitsha Economic Empowerment Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The programme, which was recently announced by Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, is part of a strategy for medium to long term sustainable interventions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A statement released from Ime Obi, Onitsha noted that the Implementation would be under the auspices of the Onitsha Advancement Foundation (OnAF), an incorporated entity promoted by the Onitsha Traditional Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The OnAF has been restructured with an expanded Board of Directors, made up of part-time members, all highly experienced, hardworking and dedicated Onitsha indigenes.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Advisory Board comprised members of the Onitsha Traditional Council and constituent groups; and Workgroups of Onitsha professionals focused on implementing specific aspects of the Economic Empowerment Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It notes that Igwe Achebe acknowledges the efforts made in conceptualising the programme stating: “this exercise has called for substantial hard work as we progress from the Onitsha Community COVID-19 Response Programme (OCCRT), which focuses on education and enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement notes, the exercise includes the distribution of palliatives, face masks and sanitisers, to the Economic Empowerment Study Panel (EESP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also addresses the medium to long term economic and social consequences of COVID-19 on the community, and now the Onitsha foundation\u2019s interventions, which we are embarking upon to implement the outcomes of the EESP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement adds: “there is more hard work ahead, and I plead that we do not relent since we can now clearly see the great possibilities that lie ahead as we work toward lifting the poor in Onitsha out of poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Three initiatives spanning business learning, technological skills acquisition, and financial intermediation will serve as the arrowhead of the Economic Empowerment Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These are the Onitsha Leadership and Entrepreneurship Centre (OLEC); (Onicha) Ado Business Incubation Centre (ABIC), and a Microfinance Institution\/Microfinance Bank (MFI\/MFB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the statement, OLEC will focus on creating passion for learning about businesses, and how to create and grow small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The OLEC workgroup is led by Prof Alex Ike Ikeme, teacher, coach, facilitator and mentor with not less than three decades of experience in entrepreneurship development studies and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“ABIC will serve as a catalyst tool to help new technology start-ups to grow and develop, including helping to accelerate and make optimum use of incubator resources.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement added that Mr Charles Uchenna Emembolu, an information technology architecture expert would lead for the ABIC workgroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The MFI\/MFB will offer financial resources to low\/medium income populations, in addition to targeting financial services at self-employed, micro and small businesses generally overlooked in the society.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement also said that Mr Nnamdi Anammah, a financial expert with a track record covering commercial banking, corporate finance and stock broking would lead the MFI\/MFB workgroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is also planned to establish a health and well-being workgroup that will determine the modalities for a community\u2019s basic healthcare programme.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It then added that a values reorientation campaign would be set up as a critical enabler for the Economic Empowerment Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The campaign is designed to drive a new work\/study\/life ethic for Onitsha indigenes, which is in tune with the times and able to power a rebirth of thrift, industry, achievement and pride on a global scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The campaign will also prepare a significant number of persons from the community with vital foundational principles to key into and avail themselves of other elements of the Economic Empowerment Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This initiative will be led by Mr Nn\u2019emeka Maduegbuna, a Communications Consultant, who brings three decades plus of experience in strategic communications planning, corporate positioning and reputation management.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the statement it has been conceptualised by a panel of Onitsha experts, who have been charged by Igwe Achebe, to map out strategies to support the struggling and budding entrepreneurs in our domain in weathering the COVID-19 storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Economic Empowerment Programme builds on a broad-based 2017 project with the theme: “Take Onicha Ado N\u2019Idu to the Next Level\u2019\u2019, which explores developmental and repositioning needs of the ancient kingdom. (MOI)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Tony Nezianya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arrangements have been finalised for takeoff of an Onitsha Economic Empowerment Programme. The programme, which was recently announced by Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, is part of a strategy for medium to long term sustainable interventions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. A statement released from Ime Obi, Onitsha […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}