The Grant & Skills Initiative
Community Empowerment: Utmost Necessity
Our Grant & Skills Initiative provides entrepreneurship grants and vocational training to local community members in Edo State, Nigeria, and Florida, USA. By providing both capital and essential business skills training, we equip individuals to launch sustainable businesses, build lasting assets, and achieve financial independence.
This approach empowers community members, with a primary emphasis on women and girls, to generate reliable income, improve household living standards, and create a permanent pathway to self-sufficiency for their families and the broader community.
Challenges
We are tackling poverty and disenfranchisement in rural Edo State, Nigeria, and Florida, USA. Most local community members, especially women, lack seed money and the collateral necessary to secure loans through commercial banks. These social barriers limit their ability to start and scale small businesses, making it difficult—if not impossible—to meet their basic needs.
- This is How We Help -
Taking Action
To build on assets that already exist in the local community, we provide entrepreneurship grants and vocational training to community members, with an emphasis on empowering women and girls to be self-sustainable. By doing so, these members can give back to their families and communities while preparing for the next generation.
We provide grants and skills-based training to locals interested in becoming small traders and artisans, including food sellers, carpenters, tricycle drivers, hairdressers, tailors, and cloth sellers.
Our mission is moral and clear: to help the poorest of the poor to be able to stand up for themselves, provide for their families, and economically grow their local community.
To qualify for our grants and vocational training, we dutifully vet and select those who have been marginalized in society. We ensure community members receive both seed grants and vocational instruction, providing the practical expertise to build a thriving, independent business without the burden of debt.
Long-term Impact
Empowering local community members in Edo State, Nigeria, and Florida, USA, promotes sustainable development from the bottom up. Through our vocational training and entrepreneurship grants, women lead grassroots movements to drive social and economic change. Grant recipients prioritize their business profits for essential needs like nutrition, healthcare, and education for their children.
Our impact on these communities goes beyond economic growth: it is about advancing human dignity, fostering self-sufficiency, and creating the next generation of role models and leaders.