Onitsha Women Group to Empower 5,000 Women & Youths with Micro & Small Business Ventures

The Onitsha Women's Group has planned 5,000 micro & small enterprises empowerment for the community's youth & women under the auspices of the Onitcha Leadership & Entrepreneurship Centre (OLEC) & the Ado Business Incubation Centre (ABIC).

The organisation held a lecture on 26^th May in Onitsha, Anambra State, with the theme "Promoting Gender Equality through Digital Literacy" to further its goal.

To assist the women & young people who are now purchasing & selling goods & services to move their companies online & increase their reach & market through the new project initiative, this will be done over the course of the next five years using e-commerce & mobile technologies.

"Our objectives are to raise digital awareness & encourage lifelong learning among women & young people & skills development, raise the standard of life for women, & promote trade & commerce via education that makes use of technology”, according to what they stated.

The organisation claims that OLEC operates under the context of the Onicha-Ado Advancement Foundation (OnAF) & was established in August 2020 as an economic empowerment programme following the Onicha Community Covid-19 Response Team Intervention by the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe.

Professor Antoinette Okaka, one of the panellists, gave a lecture during which she discussed the importance of digital technology in enabling women & girls to use technology, which will help them to develop their talents & improve their entrepreneurial endeavours.

According to her, encouraging girls to enrol in STEM programmes & courses during their schooling is necessary for achieving women's digital equality.

According to Wikipedia, which the university lecturer quoted, gender equality refers to the state of having equal access to resources & opportunities for both sexes, including economic participation & decision-making, as well as the value placed on various behaviours, such as needs & aspirations, regardless of gender.

"Women & teenagers must have access to mobile phones, be able to easily recharge them, & be exposed to digital training & education if they are to achieve digital gender equality," Professor Antoinette added.

She stated that governments, corporations, & academic institutions must collaborate to develop the mechanisms & infrastructures required to allow social & economic digital mobility because fewer than 25% of Nigerian women participate in digital technology programmes.

In her vote of gratitude, Enyi Thelma Chiwuzie, the event manager, praised the panellists for teaching the audience & promised that participants would be satisfied when they returned home.

She also expressed her appreciation for the seminar's organisers & Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, saying that the seminar's success will persuade the king to give them more help in the future.

Emingi Oberi Iboja, Anionwu Osita, & Ike Akata were the representatives for Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe.