Erisco Foods Limited has lifted small business owners and entrepreneurs who are indigenes of Ebenator Okpala village and selected widows of Amichi village in Anambra State with N300 million in the last two years.
The Chief Executive Officer of Erisco, Chief Eric Umeofia, disclosed this during the third phase of the empowerment programme of the company aimed at eradicating poverty in the benefitting communities.
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Chief Umeofia said, “This is two and half years, and we have spent N300m, and we are coming by the grace of God. I want to be someone doing what nobody has done in the villages, state, and Nigeria; and in five years’ time, come and see, poverty will be a thing of the past.”
At the programme where beneficiaries were presented with cheques, he advised them to utilise the funds and invest in profitable businesses, noting that they could also become distributors for the company if they wished.
The chairman, Indigenes of Ebenator Okpala, Lagos branch, Chukwudi Okeke, appreciated the gesture, saying the value chain of the empowerment would boost the economy of the villages.
Mr Okeke said, “I can’t express my gratitude to the chief; he has done so much. I thank him for initiating this empowerment which has given us, men, strength.”