It was joy as 226 needy Muslims received cash and material gifts to boost their businesses in Lagos last weekend. The event which was organised by the Lekki Muslim Ummah, LEMU held at pavilion of the Central Mosque, Lekki saw excited beneficiaries going home with items such as tricycles, sewing machines computers, deep freezers among other materials and startup capital worth over N58 million.
The 226 beneficiaries were grouped into five categories – Empowerment and Poverty alleviation 197; Health and Well-being 8; Educational Support 11; Scholarship 10; and Youth Empowerment 0.
Items distributed to the beneficiaries were 7 Tricycles, 25 Sewing machine, 38 Deep freezer, 6 Generator, 1 Computer, 2 Shoe Industrial Machine, 1 Dispatch Motorbike, 1 Presser Machine, 1 Sealing Machine.
The chairman of the LEMU Zakat Committee who supervised the disbursement and presentation of gifts items, Alhaji Olalekan Saliudeen, expressed gratitude to all donors for their sacrifice, generosity and magnanimity, adding that the donors should be happy with themselves having fulfilled an important religious obligation as sincere and devout Muslims, and for providing great relief to those in need, the widow, the jobless, the helpless and the hopeless; and for putting smiles on the faces of the beneficiaries.
He stated that eleven out of the 226 beneficiaries undergone a 22-week intensive fashion programme that comprised •12 weeks of Basic Tailoring where the students learnt how to cut, use sewing equipments and tools, and sew; •4 weeks of Arts & Crafts Embellishments, where the students learnt how to make different fashion and household accessories including bags; •2 weeks of Business of Fashion, where the students were exposed to the fundamentals of running a successful business, including marketing, branding and finance, and •4 weeks of Internship, where the students were attached to different fashion houses to further ‘hone’ their skills under the tutelage of successful fashion entrepreneurs.
He added that the graduating students have had sound training and exposure, and are ready to explore the business world. They were given certificate, Industrial sewing machines and start-up capital to launch them into the fashion business world.
He continued: “The Lekki Muslim Ummah fully funded this programme, as we paid the tuition fees of all the thirteen original students and supported them with transportation allowances for four (4) months. Today, we will be fulfilling our promise to empower the graduating students, as all graduating students will each be empowered with an Industrial Sewing Machine, valued at N135,000, and N50,000 cash as start-up capital so that they can start their own fashion houses.”
Other beneficiaries who were carefully selected from a long list of applicants were given items such as Tricycles, Sewing machines, Deep freezers, Generating set, Shoe Industrial Machines, Dispatch Motorbike, among other items as well as various amounts of cash gifts.
