INTELS Nigeria Limited has graduated a fresh batch of 80 women under its Women Empowerment Programme Scheme Synergy (WEPSS).
WEPSS, which is a Corporate Social Responsibility programme of INTELS, was established in 2013 with the vision of empowering 5,000 community women drawn from various parts of Nigeria over a 20- year period through training in fashion design and tailoring.
So far, more than 1000 women drawn from various communities have been empowered through the project.
The successful trainees are the first batch of beneficiaries admitted into the scheme in January 2019.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony held at the Federal Lighter Terminal, Onne, Rivers State on Friday, the General Manager, Legal and Corporate Services of INTELS Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mike Epelle, who represented the company’s Managing Director, expressed delight with the impact of the programme on beneficiaries since inception.
He said, “This is a programme that the management of INTELS Nigeria Limited holds very dear to its heart. We are so proud and happy to know that this has continued right from the time it started and sustained up till date.
“It was the dream of the wife of the founder of INTELS that there should be something like this set up for the women because it appears we have been paying too much attention to the men. So the idea is to have a balance. Let there be something that can be done for women and that is how this programme started.”
He advised the beneficiaries to make necessary sacrifices required to put the skills they acquired during their training to good use.
WEPSS Project Head, Nancy Freeborn, while restating the company’s commitment to women empowerment, said that apart from the tailoring skills acquired, the programme also inculcated “soft skills” including personal hygiene and how to run successful businesses after graduation.
26 years old Esther Osarodanwi, who emerged the best performing beneficiary was provided with a start-up kit which include an industrial sewing machine, steam iron, chair, scissors, seam ripper, box of tailors’ chalk and a measuring tape.
