IWD: 300 Nigerian women get impact digital skills certified by ILO, ILC

…As IEOM collaborate with Heart Foundation

The 2026 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration has brought succor to 300 women around Nigeria through training in ICT with certification from the International Labour Orgaisation (ILO) through the International Labour Centre (ILC).

The training lasted for three days with physical headquarter in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital. The grand finale took place at Menage Centre on Nkpogu Road in Trans-Amadi Industrial Area on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

Explaining details to newsmen, Mercy Odibe, coordinator of the scheme, who is also head of women in export at the Institute of Export Operations and Management (IEOM) said they were able to organize the three-day programme. She said it was mainly for empowering women.

“The first two days were for training them on digital skills. And they were certified after the training from the International Labor Organization (ILO) and International Training Centre (ILC).

Odibe stated: “Because we are an Institute, we are trainers who can train other people. So we decided to use this medium to train 300 women entrepreneurs for this International Women’s Day.

“So today is the final, as we call it. We awarded certificates and also we honored women who were outstanding in their fields. So, ultimately, everything we did today and what we’ve been doing is just to empower women, to ensure that their businesses move from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’, until they get to where they ought to be and where they expect to be.”

So far, she said, it has been a successful programme. “We know there are many women out there that do not know what is happening now.

“That’s one of the reasons we’ve been looking for people to partner with, both national and international partners. I believe with collaboration, we’ll be able to reach out to more people.

“Again, one of the persons we honored today, he is a man and from the programme, we could hear that he is the first man we are honoring in this International Women’s Day programme. We started this programme for like three years now. This is the third year since 2024.

“And for all the women we’ve honored, we’ve not had any man. Now, the reason we honored this man today is because he has been engaged in community services, empowering women in different communities. So, we are acknowledging him and we’re going to be working with his company as a way of reaching more people, even in the communities.

Then, we’re going to make use of the social media. Yes, we’re in the digital age. We keep reaching out to people.”

At the moment, she went on; “As I’m speaking to you, we have one of our sponsors again, who came in all the way from Lagos. We are training people in Lagos though we are in Port Harcourt here. But because it’s a digital age, we can stay anywhere and train and reach out to more people. So it’s not going to end here. We’ll continue to make noise. We want as many women as possible, as many persons as possible, to be aware of this initiative, of this programme, and we’ll try as much as possible to reach out to more people.

“I want to send a message out there to young women, especially to young females. I wish to tell every woman out there listening to us, you are a woman, you have the power. You can strive for more.”

She admonished women entrepreneurs not to limit themselves. “Don’t think, oh, let me just stay where I am. No, there is an opportunity for you to grow.

“There’s an opportunity for you to move out there and be who you want to be. And you can’t be that person if you stay, if you isolate yourself. Collaboration is the key.

“Come out there, partner with people. And there is an ongoing cooperative. It’s called Port Harcourt Empower Hearth Cooperative Society.

“It’s a cooperative that is big enough to accommodate everyone. Moving people from local to international markets. So you are free to come and join the cooperative.”

Supporting the women, Ofon Udofia, executive secretary of the export institute, said how they have supported the International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme, ‘Give-to-Gain’. “So we have been doing this for the past three years. As a result of that we decided to put up a sustainable programme for women, which is the ‘Empower Hearth Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society’, and not only that, we also brought in women from the hearing impaired group, the people with disability, so that trade can be inclusive.

“So this year’s theme is ‘Give-to-Gain’. We are giving to women. Some women are also being given recognition and awards for the role they played in development, both in academics and the other sectors.”

He said they were also collaborating with other NGOs and institutions as well such as Aaron and Hall, a foundation. “We collaborate with Osusu, which they just showed, and we collaborate with GT Bank, and the rest. We have a lot of other collaborators that we are working with.

“The essence of this programme is not just to do a celebration, it’s a foundation, it is a calling, it is ongoing that women should be able to support themselves. Just like Madeline Albright, the former American Secretary of State, believed that a special place should be created by God in Hellfire for women who don’t support their fellow women. So we don’t want that to be.

“We want to make sure that women support their fellow women.”

He appealed to women out there to come and join the Cooperative because it is easier and better and stronger to work as a team than as an individual.

Some of the awardees and participants who spoke with newsmen showed huge appreciation to the collaboration. A wife, Supreme Pillar, a marketing strategist, a businesswoman, and a digital content creator, said she has been privileged to be among the participants of this great conference.

“We learned about our legal protection in the economic and digital space. We also learned that as women and business owners, we should be able to have insurance, health insurance. That it’s really important for us to have health insurance because if we don’t, if we are not protected and insured, we may end up spending everything that we’ve built in taking care of our health.

“Aside that, we also learned about the different e-commerce platforms that we can use to trade and also build connections. One important aspect of today’s event was the exhibition. We got to the exhibition stand, we saw different products from different companies and small business owners.

“As business owners, we’re able to share our context and also get to buy and trade today. A woman is the builder of the future. We should put more time and all our resources in building the women as we build our future.”

On her own, Emanuella Edut, the regional manager for Sonja School Africa, and director for Puri Reel who also manages the Adaptive Impact Foundation, showed appreciation for her award. “I feel really humbled, appreciated, and just grateful.

“My background spans across social impact, business, social development.

“In the last decade, I have developed programmes for children in underserved communities, giving them access to education, skills, and other resources that would help them.

“So, beyond that, I have just been launching a business and trying to push it forward. It’s very rewarding that we get to be appreciated and we can give back.”

She said Puri Reel as a company also sponsored five-minute for this programme. “So that’s us giving back and giving impact to our community and encouraging other women to just, you know, do good.

“I think young women should just focus on the journey and the destination will be ahead of them. They can just do anything, push for excellence and they will achieve it.”