Yisa Idiat, a physically challenged hairstylist in Lagos, has received N241, 000 donations from three BusinessDay readers to rent a shop and pay her house rent.
The mother of three was featured in this section of Thursday, July 13, 2017, where she said money to pay her house rent and rent a shop are her major worries.
The hairstylist told BusinessDay that life has been hard since her husband abandoned her and her children because of her inability to bear him a male child but got harder last year when she lost her shop.
‘‘I had one small kiosk around Oshodi but last year, when the Lagos state government destroyed all the shops by the gutter, mine was affected. I don’t have money to get another shop and my customers say they cannot come to my house to braid their hair because they don’t like where I stay.
‘‘My husband who was a trailer driver abandoned the children and me because I did not give him a male child. This period has been hard on my family. Feeding my children has not been easy,’’ Idiat told BusinessDay earlier.
The hairstylist received the sum of N186,000 from Awujoola Heritage Foundation, N50,000 from an anonymous reader of BusinessDay and N5,000 from a civil servant in Kaduna bringing the total donation to N241,000.
After reaching out to Ismail Busari, Idiat’s landlord who confirmed how much rent Idiat owed and securing a shop for the hairstylist in her choice location, three different cheques were raised.
A cheque of N36,000 was raised in Busari’s name, N150,000 in Lucky Daniel’s name, who is the president of Association of Estate Agents in Nigeria, Ajao estate chapter and also the property consultant for the shop while N55,000 was raised in the hairstylist’s name.
Presenting the cheques to the hairstylist on Friday, Daniel Obi, brands and marketing editor, BusinessDay, advised Idiat to use the money judiciously.
‘‘God has remembered and blessed you today through people who gave you a total of N241,000 in this period of recession. This kind of opportunity does not come so often. Use this money wisely for what you said you’ll use it for and you will see it multiplying and your business will grow,’’ Obi advised.
The hairstylist who could barely hide her joy thanked her kind-hearted donors immensely for their assistance.
Idiat said, ‘‘I want to thank the people who gave me all these money. I am very grateful. God will bless you all the days of your life’’
On what she will do with the N55,000 which was raised in her name, the hairstylist said, ‘‘the roof of my room is leaking badly. I will use this money to repair my roof, buy equipment for my shop and take care of my children.’’
If you want to contact the writer of this story call: +234(0) 803 889 1567, +234(0) 802 223 8495. chinwe.agbeze@business dayonline.com
CHINWE AGBEZE
