Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State has approved a N200 million empowerment grant for 4,000 artisans in the state with a sum of N50,000 each to a beneficiary.
Abdulqowiyy Olododo, the general manager of the Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP), disclosed this at a press conference in Ilorin.
According to Olododo, part of the criteria which the artisans have to fulfil include uploading of their 2022 tax clearance from Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KW-lRS) and evidence of membership that they belong to recognised artisan associations in the state.
The KWASSIP boss, who informed that a portal for application of the grant has been launched, added that the programme, tagged, ‘KWAPRENEUR 3.0’ aimed to stabilise the economy of the state.
“The KWAPRENEUR is a programme aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs in the State
to get access to funding and training to kick-start their businesses and also expand existing ones in order to see that Kwara State fully becomes a business-driven economy.
“KWAPRENEUR 3.0 called for application, which was concluded between August and September 2022. Applicants ranged from varieties of professions such as fashion designing, small scale provision business, agriculture, transportation services, and a lot more.
“KWAPRENEUR 3.0 received over 15,708 applications, out of which 1,582 were found to be multiple entries, bringing the actual applications to 14,126, which cut across all the 16 local governments in Kwara State.
“The breakdown of the 14,126 applications is as follows: 4,052, agribusinesses (farming, foodstuffs, productions, and agro machineries); 1.582- artisans, 2,750- products, provisions, etc.
Others are 240 -transport services; 432- clothing wears and fabrics; 620- telco services (POs, phones accessories); 4,450 – belong to other categories of applicants.
“About 86 percent of the applicants fall between the age range of 18 years- 40 years old, while the ratio of males to females was 60 percent to 40 percent.
Read also: We’ll move Kwara to economically viable state – Abdulrazaq
“It is important to state at this juncture to the members of the public that our team or professionals is currently screening these applications to select the ones which meet requirements of the programme.
“Starting this week, successful applicants will begin to receive calls and messages to inform them to come and defend their business plans before our team of judges to determine the beneficiaries of the Kwapreneur 3.0.”
Olododo also used the occasion to debunk claims that the beneficiaries of the N20,000 support of ‘Owo Isowo’ (women petty traders) across the state would be collecting the money each month for six months.
“This is not correct. We want the members of the public to please disregard this information as it is not true. There was never a time when such information was stated or reported from this office. The grant is a one-off support for petty traders.
“We want to appeal to members of the public to continue to support the programme and the administration of the governor which continues to show concern for the welfare of every member of the society, including the downtrodden and the elderly”, he said.
