The Tony Elumelu Foundation has pledged to support female farmers especially those in rural areas in Nigeria.
The Director, Partnerships and Communications, TEF, Somachi Chris-Asokula, said this at a private sector meeting in Lagos, on Wednesday, organised by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in collaboration with the Nigerian Red Cross Society.
Chris-Asokula said the foundation would work together with the SheFarmers Initiative to achieve this, adding that education was not a qualification to access funding at TEF, but ideas, especially ideas that address sustainable development goals which are priority at TEF.
She said entrepreneurship was the most sustainable way to transform the continent and that the TEF was constantly looking for more ways to help young africans be the change the continent needs.
She also added that asides from Nigerians the foundation was already in talks with the Namibian government to help young Namibians access funding.
“35% of TEF beneficiaries are from rural areas, but our goal is to achieve 40%. Also 48-50% of beneficiaries are women and we would be very interested in partnering with SheFarmers Initiative to reach much more rural women with access to funding.
“The goal at TEF is to connect entrepreneurs to the key things needed for success which are; money, mentorship, market and business tools to build businesses that can lead to employment and sustainability in the various communities of the beneficiaries.
“Entrepreneurship is the most sustainable way to transform the continent and it is the answer to what Africans are currently facing.
“We at the TEF have empowered 1.2m young Africans across all 54 countries on the continent and we are looking for ways to do more.” She added.
The President, SheFarmers Initiative, Temitope Ande, hailed TEF and the IFRC for the parts they had played in ensuring that young Nigerians, especially women were empowered and alleviated from poverty. She however, said there was a disconnect between rural and urban women that needed to be addressed.
She said, “The disconnect between women in rural areas and women in urban areas is really huge and for us to achieve all we have addressed here today, as regards climate change, access to funding, enlightenment at the grassroots, we will need to close that gap.
Ande added, “In our own way of helping to address climate change, we advocate tree planting through farming, which also aids economic development. We have been able to get the government to accept this initiative of planting coconut trees in the 36states.
“We started with coconut trees because we realised that for some reason Nigeria was beginning to import coconut from neighbouring countries, especially in 2020 during the lockdown. We couldn’t let that happen.
“We have gone further to partner with the Namibian government to export coconut and shea butter to them and also plant their trees in Namibia. That way we are contributing to economic growth and stability here in Nigeria, while caring for the environment.”
Head, Impact and Sustainability, Verod Capital Management, Chigozie Ejimogu, who addressed investment at the forum, insisted that the government needed to develop policies that would not chase investors away.
He said, “In all honesty, policies have slowed down economic advancement in the country. Our policies are also very cumbersome and directives are difficult. This is driving investors away, because they are scared that their monies and ROI will be tied down.
“Also, in another six months, there would be change in power and new policies will come up. The rate of investments towards this last quarter will slow down, because people want to watch out for new policies that the new government will introduce so as to guide their decision making.”
Present at the programme were other notable stakeholders including; Secretary General, NCRS, Abubakar Kende; Head Of Delegation, IFRC, Abuja Country Cluster Delegation, Mr. Bhupinder Tomar; General Manager, Abbey Mortgage Bank, Lolita Ejiofor.
Credit: punchng.com
