Forty women have graduated from the ‘Class of 2021 Batch B’ of the Women Empowerment Project Scheme Synergy (WEPSS), a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of INTELS Nigeria Limited, a logistics service provider for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
INTELS also donated 1,000 garments to Engraced Life Foundation, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to supporting girls and women in their fight against breast cancer, during the graduation ceremony at the WEPSS Training Centre, Federal Lighter Terminal in Onne Port recently.
The garments were presented by Pasquale Fiore, the managing director of INTELS Nigeria Limited, to Ethel Olomu, the founder of Engraced Life Foundation.
Olomu, who is a stage four breast cancer survivor, expressed appreciation to INTELS for the gesture, which she said would support the foundation’s vision of giving ‘someone the chance to live again’.
Fiore said the company has always offered support to those in need through its various CSR programmes.
He said that WEPSS is part of the vision of the group chairman of INTELS to support and empower Nigerian women in their host communities.
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“We are here to celebrate the trainees who have successfully completed their training in the WEPSS facility, and to bid them farewell as they journey into a new phase in their lives. We are delighted that within the eight years of its operation, from November 6, 2013, WEPSS has successfully trained over 1,500 women, many of whom are presently earning a living from the skills acquired from WEPSS,” he said.
Fiore urged the graduating trainees to make the most of the knowledge acquired by at least, starting on a small scale with the aim of building up over time.
He commended the team running the affairs of WEPSS for their good performance over the years and encouraged them to continue with the good works.
Amaopusenibo Mike Epelle, the general manager, Legal and Corporate Services of INTELS Nigeria Limited, said WEPSS has become one of the best training facilities for tailoring and fashion design in Nigeria.
He said the company has contributed immensely to its host communities through various CSR initiatives.
The initiatives, according to Epelle, include granting scholarships and employment to indigenes, support for sports and community development programmes, building of roads, provision of street lights, markets and civic centres, among others.
Awards and start-up kits were presented to seven outstanding graduating trainees of the programme. Faith Adaise, the best graduating trainee, was presented with an industrial sewing machine, chair, scissors, and other start-up kits.
WEPSS was established by INTELS in 2013 to empower 5,000 community women over a 20-year period through training in fashion design and tailoring. The beneficiaries are trained in two batches every year.
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