May 2018

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a website where people can send in their medical enquiries to get
medical advice. Providing cheap and affordable health insurance by
partnering with private hospitals is also an idea to explore.
5. Technology
Nigeria still has a long way to go in this area, but we’re moving fast.
The world has gone too far and we need to catch up or we will soon
be left behind. The problem is not that there are no technologically
savvy people in the country. Nigerians – without bias or maybe, a
little bias – have some of the best brains ever. The problem is an
enabling environment.
This is an area to look into as well, especially if you are also
technologically savvy. Create an environment where Nigerians who
actually have something innovative can be encouraged through
cash and kind to see it through and you get to share in the glory
when the innovation actually solves problems. Our accelerators and
incubation hubs are already doing a good job at this, but that’s just
the beginning.
Where some people see problems, some people see opportunity. So
it is left for you to decide which side to pick.
“
According to CIA World
Factbook, unemployment rate
in Nigeria in 2017 was at 13.4%,
U.S. had 4.4%, France 9.5% and
United Kingdom 4.4%.
“
Women
Empowering
Women
In this exclusive interview with Bolanle Olukanni,
founder of God’s Wives, an NGO that provides
empowerment and wellness support for widows, she
shares her opinions on social entrepreneurship and
provides a roadmap to follow, using her journey
as an example.
- By Lanre Solarin
Unemployment Rates in 2017
Bolanle Olukanni is a TV presenter and producer, a host on
pan-African talk show “Moments,” hit music reality show
“Project Fame” and one of Nigeria’s favourite red carpet
shows “On the Carpet with Bolinto.”
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Raised in Nigeria, Israel and Kenya, Bolanle has seen a fair bit of
the world but finds there is no place like home, here in Nigeria.
She graduated from Loyola University, in Chicago, America
with Honours in a double degree, of BA Communications and
BA International Studies. After graduating, Bolanle returned to
Nigeria to do her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), where
she spent her service year working for a non-profit organization
in Ekiti, Nigeria. During her NYSC service year, Bolanle and a
fellow Corps member started ‘Girls For The Future’, a gender
based empowerment workshop for secondary school students
aimed at teaching the girl child their rights and providing
mentorship for the students. In 2017, Bolanle founded – God’s
Wives, an NGO that provides empowerment and wellness
support for Widows. She is also the writer, producer and director
of an acclaimed documentary called “God’s Wives” about the
challenges that widows face in Nigeria. She is currently on the
Board of Directors of The Self-Worth organization - an NGO
that provides empowerment classes and supplies assistance
to widows and single mothers in Nigeria. In her spare time she
enjoys reading a good novel, writing poetry and watching “The
Walking Dead.”
Bolanle believes a social problem to be anything that society is
struggling with and can be solved with a business idea that can
generate income but also address the social issues. She has been
able to consistently address the issue of income generation
through her NGO, God’s Wives, which supports other NGOs that
provide empowerment for widows.
person. We live in a society that does not have social welfare
structures so we need to be the social welfare systems for each
other.”
Due to the fact that she believed so much in her dreams when
she started, she used funds that she had saved to provide
investment for the training centre. “I think you have to invest in
any project you have before you actually can convince a third
party member to invest. In some cases, we can get investment
early on but sometimes it takes diligence and commitment. We
now have external support, as Lipton is currently running an
initiative to support widows and provide seed capital for them
during this season of Ramadan. So for every box of Lipton being
bought, consumers are also supporting widows.”
Unemployment Rates in 2017
“We realized that a lot of women would prefer to have a way to
generate income instead of depending on handouts. So last year,
we trained 75 women in three different respective fields - Dress
making, makeup artistry and catering. Once the women finished
their training course, we gave them seed capital in business
materials so they could each start a business. Therefore, if you
are a tailor, you get a sewing machine, the makeup artists got
makeup kits and the caterers got catering materials, including
ovens. We also organize wellness seminars and expose the
women to trainings on investment and insurance.”
Bolanle started and remained unwavering due to her belief that
life is about positively affecting and impacting someone else’s
life. As she stated, “I am not fulfilled as a person unless I know
I am using my influence, platform and impact to help another
For aspiring social entrepreneurs looking to empower through
skill acquisition, Bolanle believes heavily in partnerships.
According to her, “If you can find an organization that is already
providing skills acquisition programs, work with them. I invested
in the Self Worth Organization for women because I had seen
the work they had done and I realized they had the structure
and ideas for the centre already laid out. We collaborated and
the centre came about.”
This is only the beginning for God’s Wives as Bolanle is excited
about their plans for the future, “We already have another class
of trainees being enrolled and we will have our graduation in
August. We are also currently fully open to external support and
have launched our ‘Support a Widow’ program, which allows
people who are interested to financially support the women.”
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