Four participants of Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) with the best business ideas are set to received a grant of $4,000 from the United States Government, Coordinator for AWE, Amina Lawal has said.
Speaking during the final selection of the beneficiaries on Tuesday in Kaduna, she named the beneficiaries as Anita Kevin of Amina Dyslexia Centre; Zainab Jebtoa of JZ Clothing; Summaya Kabir of Interiors by SK; and Lisa La’ah of Shela Dehydrated Veggies.
According to her, the program is White House led initiative aimed to empower women across the globe with all the necessary skills and tools needed to become and emerge successful entrepreneurs.
Facilitator of the project, Amina Lawal, who is the Executive Secretary of Toes To Heels Initiative, (THI), said that adverts were sent out with 762 applications received and 25 best business ideas selected.
“The 25 participants have gone through series of trainings using the online platform that AWE provided, which is a combination of IT and entrepreneurial skills. Participants at the training used computers to access the course outlines from United States.
“There are in-person facilitators from the Kaduna Business School, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and Kaduna State University, (KASU) through physical contacts with participants. This is to ensure participants understand what they study online. At the end of the course participants wrote their business plans and then pitched their business ideas,” she said
Amina, who stated that the programme is the first cohort in Kaduna state, said that already 25 participants have been trained, and today they were at the event for pitching competition where four lucky top business ideas will emerge.
Speaking on behalf of the winners, the Chief Executive Officer of Amina Dyslexia Centre, Ms Anita Kevin, said beside the grant attached to the programme, she has also updated her knowledge due to the series of trainings she went through.
According to her, the most important part of the training is the fact it has brought her in contact with other women entrepreneurs in Kaduna. “This has form a network for me where I can easily tell a message of my social enterprise. This is more important for me.”
According to the judges at the pitching competition, the criteria used includes viability of the business, problems that such business idea is trying to solve and how novel the solution is.
