The Rotary Club of Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, has empowered 21 people in the area. It did this by disbursing loans to beneficiaries on its micro-lending project.
At the event, which was the 12th edition, the Project Coordinator, Rotarian Ike Ugwu, said, “RC Amuwo Micro-credit Project (Revolving Loan Fund) is a Matching Grant project proposed by the Rotary Club of Amuwo, sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Waunakee and Madison West Towne Middleton, USA, and supported by Rotary Districts 9110 Nigeria, 6250 Wisconsin USA and the Rotary Foundation.
The objective of the project is to offer poverty alleviation and introduce financial self sufficiency and education for women in the Amuwo area of Lagos State.”
He added that the project had provided micro-credit loans, education and training in customer care, basic literacy and numeracy, child spacing and HIV/AIDS prevention.
“It started with a seed money of US$12,260 (about N1,635,959 then), and to date has granted a total loan of N15,585,000 to 217 women belonging to credit groups called Women United Against Poverty.
The immediate impact of this project include the provision of badly-needed cash and empowerment to their businesses and trade, provision of skills necessary for success in their trade and vocation and education for themselves and by extension their families and the community,” Ugwu added.
The club gave a total of N2,500,000 as loans to 21 beneficiaries in various trades and endeavours.
The coordinator said, “The project has and continues to fulfil its objectives in a sustainable way – partly due to the interest component of 20 per cent and also due to low default rate. The loan fund available has continued to grow and at present stands at above N3.2m.”
At the event were President, Rotary Club of Amuwo, Mrs. Uche Jinwa; the District Governor, Rotary Club District 9110, Dr. Adewale Ogunbadejo; and several other dignitaries.