Whitefield Foundation, a non-profit organization with a passion to reduce poverty has announced a six months training of 60,000 youth and women across the six- geo-political zones of the country.
The training program and grant is in partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation, Sterling One Foundation, Sterling Bank, among others.
Briefing Newsmen at the official launch of the project, Chief Executive Officer of Whitefield Foundation, Funmi Johnson said the launch of this initiative will equip at 60, 000, while the goal is to reach out to at least a hundred thousand people.
She said the foundation will in the next three weeks have another launch in Kano, adding that Sterling Bank was adopted as the official bank for the project. “The first fund that came from Coca Cola Foundation, landed in our account in Sterling Bank.
Registered in 2003, Johnson said, the foundation is committed to eradicating poverty in Nigeria, through empowerment.
She, however, noted that the support from the Coca-Cola Foundation has in no small measure, made significant impacts.
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“One of the things we did with the last intervention was to support 50 people to register their businesses. Also, we are putting a lot of interest in Agriculture and we need to support at least 1,000 farmers,” she said.
Also speaking, Director Public Affairs, Communications& Sustainability at Coca-Cola, Amaka Onyemelukwe maintained that over the last three years, Whitefield Foundation has been a worthy partner.
She said, “In Coca-Cola Company, our story is that of partnership. I am very much grateful to the Sterling One Foundation for coming with us on this journey. After these women have been empowered, they really need access to finance; there couldn’t be a better partner to provide that.
“All over the world, Coca Cola Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the company that actually focuses on the progress that makes an impact in societies. This is the 70th year of our doing business in Nigeria, and it is a landmark year for us. We are deeply grateful for the shared partnership and opportunity we have created with Nigerians. We are making sure that we put more investment into building programs that are sustainable across communities,” she said.
Olushola Obikanye, Group Head, Agric Financing, Sterling Bank, disclosed that the bank will provide the financing at a single-digit interest rate, targeted at the youth segment.
Also, he said that the beneficiaries will have access to information, free advisory services, and access to financial education.
Obikanye equally noted that the bank will ensure that the beneficiaries are linked with another local and international market, in order to grow from smallholders to large corporates.
“This is a program that has been put together to ensure that after capacity must have been successfully built in the participants, the opportunity in the access to finance is provided. The type of finance that will be provided is the type that comes at a single interest rate. We have a very special product for this foundation,” he said.
“Sterling Bank has decided to adopt agric as their foremost focus and we are passionate about our women, our youth because we know that they form a very significant segment of our come back to winning ways. If we must be serious about agriculture, we must look very carefully at our population.
“Africa’s agricultural population has about 70 per cent women in the workforce. One of the things we need to do to bring in our youths into the sector is to make agriculture attractive and entertaining. Our partnership with Whitefield Foundation comes instructive because they have provided the platform to identify the youths and build capacity in them,” he said.
Olapeju Ibekwe, Chief Executive Officer, Sterling One Foundation, maintained that the foundation prioritizes critical sectors for impactive investment.
According to her, the foundation expects an indirect impact of this initiative on at least 300,000 people across the country
