The Benue Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC) has proposed a business model that will leverage part of a $500 million grant it is seeking from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to empower Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees in Benue State with entrepreneurship skills and business grants.
The grant, if approved, will also be utilised by BIPC to expand its business across its Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises portfolios to create new jobs and wealth.
BIPC’s Managing Director/CEO Dr Raymond Asemakaha showcased the model which contained various empowerment schemes that are designed for refugees, returnees, and IDPs in the state.
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He explained that the BIPC model is chiefly aimed at integrating displaced persons into society, ensuring their self-reliance, by allocating at least 15 percent of micro-employment opportunities to refugees, IDPs, and returnees in the state.
Asemakaha added that the model will ensure that the distressed persons are no longer burdens to the society but would become change agents and economic catalysts.
“The $500 million business model presented by BIPC is aimed at providing sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by refugees and IDPs in the state, and the company is confident that its partnership with UNHCR will help achieve this goal,” he said.