By IJEOMA UKAZU
As the economic situation of Nigeria continues to bite hard, to mitigate its effect on family livelihood, Nestlé Nigeria launched rural women empowerment program.
The project which was launched in August 2021, tagged: “Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project” aims to help rural women retailers within the company’s value chain scale-up their businesses to increase their household incomes.
The program was recently launched in Nsukka and Obolo-Afor, both in Enugu State to reach an additional 50 women retailers. This brings the number of beneficiaries to 150.
“Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project” is designed to equip
female distributors at the end of the pyramid to scale up to three times the size of their existing business over 3 months and to sustain the new level.
Nestlé Nigeria’s Commercial Manager, Khaled Ramadan
Speaking on Nestlé’s contributions to empowering women within her value
chain, Mr. Khaled Ramadan, Commercial Manager for Nestlé Nigeria, said,
“At Nestlé, we believe that by contributing to the health and wellbeing of our communities, we create shared value for all stakeholders while contributing to the growth of our business.
“Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project” is our way of improving the livelihoods of women in the rural areas by helping them scale their businesses to three times its current volume within three months.
Our ambition is to empower 300 of these women who are retailers within our distribution channel.”
“We have received very positive feedback from the first 100 beneficiaries of the
program who are based in the suburbs of Abuja and Osogbo.
They are reporting faster turnover and increased revenue as well as stronger visibility of their business outlets within their locations.
We are therefore confident that our
intervention through training, mentorship and product grants are a right mix for success.
By improving the household incomes of the rural women, Nestlé is helping to improve their access to adequate nutrition, good healthcare and good quality education for their families.”
The beneficiaries of “Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project” receive grants by way of Nestlé products valued at 300% of their current monthly
sales.
They also participate in training and mentorship programs which equip them with the requisite skills to scale up and sustain their businesses.
These programs are delivered by the implementation partner, FDConsults which also works with each retailer over 3 months post training to help them succeed.
Each beneficiary retailer is linked to a one-on-one mentor for guidance and consistent support.
Speaking on the outcome of the program so far, Mr. Phranklin Audu, Lead
Trainer & Head of Partnerships at FDConsults , said, “It is a delight for me to see the progress already made by the beneficiaries of “Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project.”
The reports of increase in turnover and profit are very encouraging.
Following the successful implementation of the first and second phases, I am happy that 50 more women are joining the program today.
FDConsults is privileged to be a part of this success story and remains focused on helping each beneficiary attain her highest potential.
I encourage each participant here today to take full advantage of this unique opportunity to grow her business.”
FDConsults has a track record of helping rural dwellers access information and
skills to improve their standards of living.
One of the beneficiary from Obolo-Afor in Enugu State, Mrs. Peace Eze said “I am very happy to have been selected to benefit from this program. I am going home with
good news.
With what we were taught today, I now have the knowledge to support my business to grow.
With the help of the goods that Nestlé is also giving to us, I have everything I need to make my business succeed.
I thank Nestlé for this important initiative, it will help all the women benefiting from the program a lot.”
The first phase of “Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project” which
was launched in the suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory in August 2021 reached 50 beneficiaries while the second phase launched in Osogbo in October 2021 added 50 more women to the program.
With this launch in Enugu State,
the program now includes 150 beneficiaries, halfway to the target the company set for the initiative.
“Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project” is one of the Company’s
Creating Shared Value, CSV, initiatives to contribute towards building thriving
communities by improving livelihoods.