Whitefield, Coca-Cola, Sterling One Foundations Empower 20,567 youths in Kano

COMFORT EKELEME, BUSINESS EDITOR

In contribution to the economy and improving the lot of youths, the Whitefield Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation, and Sterling One Foundation, alongside other partners, have trained and empowered over 60,000 youths and women across the country, with over 20,000 youths in Kano alone, to aid wealth creation and contribute positively to the economy.

The executing partner, Whitefield Foundation, also disbursed over N30 million in financial grants to the top 1,000 beneficiaries from every state in Nigeria through Sterling Bank.

The project was a three-month skill acquisition program across Nigeria using a hybrid approach of a digital and physical mode of delivery to penetrate the hinterland despite the spate of insecurity in the country.

The physical training sessions in Kano state were held in 5 different centers with participants drawn from all the 44 Local Governments, while the digital was delivered through collaboration with the Kano State Ministry of Youth and Sports. In total, 20,567 residents of Kano state benefited from the skills acquisition program.

To ensure the self-reliance of the beneficiaries, the Whitefield Foundation partnered with Coca-Cola Foundation, Sterling One Foundation, and other parties under the EQUIP program to empower 60,000 youths and women across Nigeria with employability, entrepreneurship, vocational, and financial literacy skills.

The EQUIP 60,000 project is an innovative hybrid approach to empowerment to address the unemployment gap. The program focuses on helping to achieve five of the SDG Goals, including Zero Hunger, No Poverty, Gender Equality, Decent Work, Economic Growth, and Partnerships to achieve the Goals.

The strategic partnership was also supported by Sterling Bank, the official banking partner of the project, Kano State Ministry for Youths and Sports, MSME Africa, and the Capstone.

In his remarks, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, represented by the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Kabiru Ado Lakwaya, commended the Whitefield Foundation and Coca-Cola Foundation interventions in successfully training thousands of youths, remarking that the program will go a long way in curtailing the vices of unemployment in the state.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the skill acquisition program, the Chief Executive Officer of Whitefield Foundation, Funmi Johnson, talked about the empowerment programs as “part of their contribution to the upliftment of teeming youths out of poverty.”

She appreciated her partners, especially the Coca-Cola Foundation, for financially supporting the project and noted that her foundation is poised to do more to bring more Nigerian youth and women out of poverty.

Also speaking, Coca-Cola’s Director of Public Affairs, Communication, and Sustainability, Amaka Onyemelukwe, said they have over time specialized in building sustainable communities through the development of their local communities for everyone to be financially responsible.

She said in the following year, they would follow up to assess the impact of their poverty eradication intervention programs in support of the state government’s youth empowerment efforts.

The Chief Executive Officer of Sterling One Foundation, Mrs. Olapeju Ibekwe, noted that according to a recent statistics report by Bloomberg, Nigeria’s unemployment rate ranked third globally at 33 percent, a key indicator that the unemployment situation is dire.

According to her, “everyone must choose to do something to change that narrative,” remarking that the foundation has prioritized youth empowerment and gender equality as “youth and women are critical to the nation’s economic development.”

She noted that the EQUIP 60,000 partnership is timely and laudable given its pan-Nigerian reach as it will educate and empower 60,000 youths and women directly, while its indirect beneficiaries are projected to exceed 300,000 people across the nation.