Two Enugu ladies win Lift Saxum/Ola Ndi Igbo entrepreneurship award 

A soap and toiletries maker and a budding fashion designer have won the joint Lift Saxum/Ola Ndi Igbo Entrepreneurship Award aimed at encouraging young people and women in particular to learn the ropes of venturing.

Kosisochukwu Agbo, who makes soaps, detergents and air fresheners, and Mary Jane Onyia, a budding fashion designer, won the Business Plan Competition Award sponsored by Ola Ndi Igbo and organised by Lift Saxum.

The grant from Ola Ndi Igbo gives three youths and two women entrepreneurship training and then avails them with a mini-grant of N50,000 each to the two with the best viable business plan.

In January 2016, Ola Ndi Igbo gave mini-grants to some non-governmental organisations based in the South East to support their activities. Lift Saxum Limited/GTE received a grant of N250,000.

Ola Ndi Igbo is a biennial summit convened to promote values-driven change in Igbo land and celebrate notable Igbo achievers all over the world who have demonstrated excellence, values-based leadership, and a work ethic to rise to the top of their professions. The grant by Ola Ndi Igbo recognises the challenges faced by micro-entrepreneurs in the sourcing of capital and also effectively running their businesses.

Lift Saxum is a non-profit organisation established to transform the enterprise development landscape and the lives of youth and women in Nigeria, with a focus on the South East.

Nwanneka Okoro, Lift Saxum CEO and former business development manager and group head public sector business Enugu/Ebonyi at First Bank, said the organisation had also trained 80 rural women on the Songhai Integrated Farming Techniques, home craft, and life skills.