Ooni Partners SMEDAN In N1b Women Micro Businesses Scheme

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) at the weekend launched a N1 billion Women Owned Micro Businesses (WOMB) named after Abibatu Mogaji Tinubu, mother of the president.

The monarch at the event held at the Oduduwa Hall, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, also honoured 100 outstanding  youths drawn from across Africa under the 2024 (fourth) Royal African Young Leadership Forum.

Harping on the theme: ‘African of the future: Better together,’ the monarch admonished the awardees to join him to harness the power of youths to achieve lasting progress and unity to create a brighter future for Africa.

He expressed his unweaving commitment to lead young people across Africa to reshape the continent by harnessing their potential to address critical challenges that are bedeviling the shining light of the continent’s greatness through RAYLF.

The director general of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN), Charles Odii while signing the agreement witha Ooni, noted that the purpose of the coming together of SMEDAN and RAYLF is to formalise a partnership in launching the N1 billion women owned micro businesses project.

“The project is an initiative envisioned by the Ooni of Ife, to train, fund, mentor and support female entrepreneurs across Nigeria with access to local, regional and global markets. SMEDAN is committed to providing a N1 billion fund to support the WOMB project.

Prominent among the awardees are: the minister of youth development, Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Osun House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Wale Egbedun, Sherif Ghali, Kooshilla Saraye, Neli Duke-Ekpenyoung, Lukaku Sofa Tshiswaka, Aboubacar Abdoul among others.