Entrepreneur upskills SMEs in Calabar with financial, motivational grants

Nigerian entrepreneur, Melody Fidel has taken his foremost online stability and sustenance business support programme to Kwa Falls, Calabar where many youths were empowered with both financial and motivational grants.

While Calabar joins the growing list of physical locations of the programme, Fidel for over 17 weeks has on a weekly basis organized the stability and sustenance business support programme on Instagram providing entrepreneurship direction and reaching out to thousands of teeming African SMEs online.

At the event in Calabar which is in partnership with Hyper Creatives Camp, eight lucky entrepreneurs in different industries got the stability and sustenance business support ranging from thirty-five thousand and fifty-five thousand Naira each to scale their respective businesses.

They include Ntiedo Akpan of Tonaz Bespoke wears; Jerry Samuel, a fashion designer; Obure Justin, footwear maker; Mary-Agnes Bassey, CEO of MayApparels and Precious Andong, owner of Pandongscent perfumery, and others.

The beneficiaries thanked Melody for his generosity while confirming the grant will help scale their small businesses.

“I pitched my business at the kwa falls getaway to success stability and sustenance event, and I was selected for a grant prize of thirty-five thousand Naira which has helped me expand my clothing business within Calabar,” Bassey excitedly stated.

In the same vein, Precious mentioned that the grant received has allowed Pandongscent to include home scent diffusers and room sprays into its line of business.

Fidel who has been grooming and building start-ups since 2013 charged the young entrepreneurs from different industries including fashion, tech, agriculture, commerce and more to be consistent, tenacious and professional in their dealings in order to attract potential buyers, investors and clients.

“The only way to survive in business after possessing the required skill is to continuously be consistent in what you do. Never give up and while at it, be sure to be determined and professionally motivated to succeed,” Melody tells the young entrepreneurs at the stability and sustenance business support event in Kwa Falls, Calabar.

He continued to the entrepreneurs that, “Look around you, there are perhaps many people who are doing almost, if not the same thing as you do. Your only hope of survival is to do extra beyond the ordinary while providing exceptional services to your customers and clients who will be your unpaid ambassadors and attract more customers to your business.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.