A leading technology and innovation centre in Kwara State, DHub Innovation Centre, has trained 100 female entrepreneurs in Kwara State.
The 6 weeks mentorship program, which was organized with support from AfriLab and tagged FEMQUIP, equipped female business owners in Kwara State with essential know-how of maintaining and scaling businesses in the core digital age.
According to the organizers, the mentorship program featured business moguls and experts who took the 100 females selected from across the 16 Local Governments of Kwara State on soft and business skills targeted at strengthening their businesses. The participants were carefully selected from over 500 pools of applicants.
The FEMQUIP project (Equip Female) featured training on Record Keeping, Separate Entity Concept/Financial Discipline, Sustainable Business Development, Business Plan Writing, Acquisition and Retention of Customers, Personnel Management, Marketing, and Profit and Cost Analysis.
Some of the participants trained were part of the Kwara State Trade Fair where they showcase their products and pitch their businesses to prospective investors. 2 of them pitched their businesses as finalists at the first edition of the Kwara State Trade Fair. Most recently, one of the beneficiaries of the FEMQUIP program won 1,000 Dollars for her laundry business. Following the training, all the participants are engaging themselves in activities scaling their businesses and resultantly boosting the economy of Kwara State.
Olasupo Abideen Opeyemi, the co-founder of dHub Innovation Centre, stated that the vision of the technology and innovation centre to train 5,000 female business owners within the coming 10 years.
While speaking to participants, Wale Bakare who also doubles as the cofounder and Head of Strategy of dHub, stated that the motivation to put the project together is rooted in the fact that opportunities have not been domesticated for women to thrive in the business world.
The co-founders of dHub innovation centre have, in the past worked as local partners for international brands like Google, Facebook, and Andela, as trainers equipping Africans, of all genders with digital skills.