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| Women at the training exercise |
In a bid to
reduce unemployment among women in Nigeria, Solar Jooce and British American
Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) have concluded the first phase of training
of the some rural Oyo women on assemblage and repairs of basic solar lanterns
and phone charging units.
This follows the
recent signing of an agreement to train these rural women in Oyo State and
sealed between the Executive Director, BATN Foundation, Mr. Gbenga Ibikunle and
the chief executive officer, Solar Jooce, Mr. David Agbakoba.
Speaking on the
development, Solar Jooce boss, Mr. Agbakoba noted that of the world's 1.6
billion people living without electricity, 80 per cent live in Sub Saharan
Africa.
Solar Jooce, a
social enterprise dedicated to improve the quality of life of rural communities
in Nigeria that have little or no access to electricity, through its
coordinator, Anne Agbakoba, revealed to
NaijaAgroNet
that the main objective of the agreement in its pilot stage was to train an
initial 20 rural ladies to become solar technicians and to help them set up
solar micro-business.
This, she said,
has kicked-off with the training which covers four local governments in Oyo State,
namely Areas in Oyo state - Itesiwaju, Kajola, Oyo West, and Iseyin. The
exercise, she said, is meant to empower the ladies to light up their
communities and spread the use of solar as an alternative to dangerous and
expensive fossil fuelled lighting such as the kerosene lamps.
She also
confirmed to
NaijaAgroNet that the
initiative would be moved to other states across the federation with the
collaboration of British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, an independent charitable
organization incorporated in Nigeria with the vision to improve the quality of
life of citizens in rural and urban in Nigeria.
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| Women at the training exercise |
Equally, she
explained that the initiative entails a marketing and financial management
training entitled ‘Growing your new solar Micro-business’ was conducted in
Yoruba by Mrs. Yemi Owolabi, executive director, Finance of Standard Chartered
Bank, Nigeria.
The Solar Jooce
women’s empowerment initiative,
NaijaAgroNet
gathered, is a small step in the daunting task of providing a clean,
alternative source of electricity, alleviating poverty, and providing
opportunities for rural families in Nigeria.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that the training
workshop is also supported by the Hertz Corporation, C & I Leasing
(transport & logistics), Sesema PR, and the Bishop of Ajayi Crowther
Diocese, Bishop O. O. Oduntan.
The first phases
of the initiative was a massive awareness creation about the use and benefits
of solar applications through the donation of combined solar lantern and phone
charging unit to a community in the 36 states of the country.
Further, the
second phase,
NaijaAgroNet gathered
is a long-term capacity building scheme which to train women in the assembling
and troubleshooting solar applications in order for them to be able to start
their own small solar trade with its first pilot in June 2012.
