Mandela Washington Fellows Business Connect

The Mandela Washington Fellows Business Connect is a workshop aimed at giving guidance to budding entrepreneurs on how to set up their business in a very challenging environment such as ours, as well as to provide internship opportunities for about 20 participants from this workshop.

This workshop is organized by the Nigerian Mandela Washington Fellows in collaboration with Nigerian Center for Women Development, WeConnect, & the Abuja Enterprise Agency.
This workshop comes up on Saturday April 18, 2015 at the Women Development Center (Opposite Central Bank Headquarters) Central Business District, Abuja.
If you are interested in participating in this workshop kindly fill the form below.

Credit: 2014 Mandela Washington Fellows, Abuja.

Nigeria: Cross Rivers to Work With Farmer's Association On Poverty

Cross River State Ministry of Agriculture has said it was willing to partner with All Farmers' Association of Nigeria (AFAN) to alleviate poverty in the state.

State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Ukam Edodi, made the assertion in Calabar when the executive members of AFAN, Cross River chapter, visited him.

Edodi described farming as one sector that has continued to sustain the lives of the ordinary man in spite of various challenges facing the sector.

"I think that if more emphasis has been put on agriculture since independence, Nigeria would have been better placed than wholly depending on crude oil which has created uncertainty today," he said.

The commissioner charged AFAN to be competent and resourceful and to look into processing and marketing along the value chain to help sustain the farmers and the economy.

He assured them of the ministry's willingness to assist within the limits of available resources and promised to work together with the leadership of AFAN. State Chairman of AFAN, Mr Etim Nakanda, said their interest to add value through the processing, packaging and marketing of agricultural value chain would create employment directly.

Nakanda added that this would also eradicate glut and post-harvest waste.

He appealed to the ministry to assist the association in capacity building of farmers, employing more Agricultural Project Officers and Extension Staff to provide advice to farmers.

Contributing, Dr Martina Ubi, Director, Agricultural Services, advised AFAN to register with the Growth Enhancement Scheme of the ministry to enable its members to qualify as farmers in the state. According to her, this would help the farmers to access facilities such as loans and farm inputs from the government.

Source:Daily Independent

FAO's role in Decent rural employment

Decent rural employment is defined as work that provides a living income and reasonable working conditions. It refers to productive and dignified work that enables people – whether self-employed or wage labourers – to provide for themselves and their families, while also ensuring their safety and health at work and providing them with opportunities to voice their concerns.

Promoting decent employment in rural areas is vital to effective rural poverty reduction. The lack of decent employment opportunities in rural areas is one of the main reasons why about 400 million workers continue to live in extreme poverty. Working long hours under bad and sometimes hazardous conditions, workers may suffer physical, financial and mental setbacks that can trap them in poverty.

Active support to countries in creating more and better jobs in agriculture and in rural areas is therefore central to FAO’s mission. FAO is helping countries to generate more productive farm and non-farm employment opportunities while also addressing the factors that undermine the well-being and productive potential of rural populations, including hazardous work, difficulties in accessing social protection, damaging child labour and discrimination against women.

FAO’s approach to promoting decent rural employment is built around four pillars:

• Changing the discourse: Development strategies often overlook the employment needs of the rural poor. FAO is working to close this underlying knowledge gap and lack of awareness through analysis and advocacy work that highlight the importance of decent employment in rural areas. FAO also identifies good practices in decent rural employment creation that can guide policymakers in their efforts to reduce rural poverty.

• Supporting governments: Many governments struggle to effectively promote decent employment in rural areas. To remedy this, FAO strengthens governments’ capacities to formulate, implement and monitor policies, strategies and programmes that enhance decent rural employment. For example, FAO helps governments integrate youth aspects into agricultural investment strategies and programmes, and supports them in extending the application of International Labour Standards to rural areas, including through the development of action plans to prevent and reduce child labour in agriculture.

• Empowering rural workers and entrepreneurs: FAO promotes innovative practices that enhance the capabilities of the rural poor – particularly women and youth – to improve their access to employment opportunities. FAO then supports governments to take ownership and scale up successful pilot projects and adapt tools and methodologies to local conditions and needs. For instance, FAO’s Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) methodology has been successful in providing young women and men with the agriculture, business and life skills needed to earn a decent living and set up viable agro-enterprises.

• Developing partnerships: FAO partners with UN, regional, national and community-level stakeholders to promote decent rural employment. For example, FAO is strongly involved in the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture, and collaborates closely with the International Labour Organization to promote the Global Employment and Decent Work Agenda in agriculture and rural areas.

Source: FAO

Nigerian entrepreneur Cynthia Ndubuisi proved that there is financial and environmental value in cassava peels.

A finalist in the 2014 Global Innovation through Science and Technology competition and a YALI Network member, Ndubuisi developed a way to convert cassava peels into nutritious goat feed. Farmers had perceived the peels as a useless byproduct and burned them as a cheap way of disposal. But that practice releases harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava, each year growing 40 metric tons and generating 12 million metric tons of peels. When burned, those peels release more than 10 million tons of toxic carbon monoxide in the air.

Ndubuisi’s solution to the problem begins with a simple platform on which peels are dried. The dried peels are packaged and sold as a healthy goat feed. By selling both food products derived from the cassava tuber and animal feed, farmers can utilize 100 percent of their plants and boost their incomes. “This is something the community embraces with joy and excitement,” Ndubuisi says.

In 2013, Ndubuisi, 24, founded the social enterprise Kadosh Production Company in Delta state to recycle cassava waste. The venture also helps small-scale farmers get credit so they can purchase drying platforms, and it links cassava growers and processors with goat-farmer customers. With an eye set on expansion to other countries, Ndubuisi says she hopes her business will grow to be “a major influence in the Nigerian economy and Africa at large.”

Ndubuisi has a bachelor’s degree in textile science and polymer technology and a master’s in business administration from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. She says that since she was young, her parents have inspired her to go into business.

Further inspiration came later when Ndubuisi volunteered to work for a year at a woman-owned bakery “to learn how to run a business of my own.” At the bakery she learned about the challenges associated with running a business and how to handle those challenges. The experience “made me confident that I could run my own business,” she says.

Ndubuisi received further business advice from a U.S. mentor — a former United Parcel Service executive. Gary Mastro is one of many experienced businesspeople MicroMentor has matched with young entrepreneurs around the world. MicroMentor is an initiative of the nonprofit humanitarian group Mercy Corps based in Oregon. More than half of the entrepreneurs who request its help are from outside the United States, the group notes.

Cynthia Ndubuisi, center, stands with some of the entrepreneurs she has mentored and their supporters.

Ndubuisi’s first venture was a liquid soap company called EverGlow that makes an affordable, hygienic alternative to bar soap. “Gary is a pillar in my business and a man I respect so much,” she says.

And now Ndubuisi is a mentor herself. In 2013 she founded Confident Women to mentor young women and teach them about home management, family relationships and how to make liquid soap so they could start their own small-scale businesses. The businesswoman later changed the name of Confident Women to the CAMY Foundation after collaborating with a partner in Zimbabwe who wanted a similar mentoring model in her country. CAMY Foundation now has more than  450 women members in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Ndubuisi says she communicates regularly with other YALI Network members who tell her about what is happening in other countries and let her “see the great work young leaders like me are doing.”

“This encourages me a lot to keep up the work and never give up so we can have a better future.” She adds that she learns a lot from the ongoing YALIChat Twitter conversation.

Ndubuisi encourages other YALI Network members and potential members to “maximize the opportunities from YALI Network” and to “be a change in their society."

Source: https://youngafricanleaders.state.gov/mentors-help-guide-entrepreneurs-businesses/

The wonders of Pawpaw

The pawpaw plant is a native of South America, where it was cultivated since Pre-Columbian times. There are 22 plants and trees in the pawpaw genus; the most famous of which is Carica papaya. Pawpaw (Carica Papaya) reached Europe in 1690 and Asia in the 18th Century. Pawpaw is now grown all over tropical Africa. It is a very beautiful plant; hence it is used ornamentally in some parts of the world.

Pawpaw is one of God’s wonderful gifts to humanity. When one looks at the beauty and richness of nature, one cannot but burst into songs of praise to God. Pawpaw is a pharmacy in its own right. We all eat pawpaw and enjoy its sweet and pleasant taste. But how many of us know the medicinal values of this wonderful plant?

Some time ago I visited a poor old man living alone in a village house. His three children are working outside the country. This old man had an old sore that refused to heal despite regular medication. The sore had gone so bad that the man’s leg was actually rotting away. “Why is no one treating you?” I asked him. He replied: “My children are all living abroad and they always send me Oyibo (Western) medicine to cure my leg, but the leg is stubborn”. My heart sank. At the back of this old man’s house are three healthy pawpaw plants. I drew his attention to the plants and showed him how to use the pawpaw fruit to treat his sore. Within three months his leg was back to normal. He was able to trek to the farm and go to church. I did not need to bring Holy Communion to him in the house anymore.

How heart-rending it is to see people dying of common illnesses that can easily be cured. Go to our hospitals and you will see what I mean. The drugs are so expensive. Worse still, seventy percent of the drugs in the Nigerian market are fake. What other hope do we have then, but to turn to nature? I once passed the night with a simple family in a remote village, where I had gone to do research. Having settled down, my host showed me to the bathroom and apologized that there was no special soap for me to bathe. I told him I did not need a special soap because there was a natural soap growing nearby. I took him to the pawpaw plant in front of his house and showed him how to use the leaf as soap. The following morning he applied what I had taught him. He simply squeezed the leaves together and used them to scrub his body. He was excited at how effective it was. Such is the wonderful nature of the pawpaw plant.

Pawpaw improves the digestion of protein and expels worms. The ripe fruits are rich in vitamins A, B and C. Vitamin A is good for eyesight. Vitamin B for the nerves and muscles, while vitamin C strengthens the immune system and helps to fight against illnesses. For worms, chew two tablespoons of the seeds of ripe pawpaw fruit first thing on rising and last thing at night. Do this for three days. Take only fruits for breakfast and supper for those three days.

For chronic external ulcers or sores, cut a piece of unripe pawpaw fruit and tie directly to the wound. Do this four times daily. Continue till the wound has dried, which will be in a few days or weeks. To make the wound heal faster, eat plenty of ripe pawpaw.

Pawpaw is also useful in treating the following conditions:

1.) Malaria Fever
Squeeze some yellow pawpaw leaves in water. Take a glassful three times daily for seven days. The preparation is also good for jaundice. The dosage is the same.

2.) Diabetes:

The green leaves of pawpaw are good for diabetes and for diabetes-induced hypertension. Squeeze the green leaves in water and take a glass three times daily. This preparation is also good for constipation.

3.) Stomach Ulcer:

Cut a big unripe pawpaw fruit into pieces. Do not remove the peel or seeds. Simply cut the whole fruit into cubes. Then soak in five bottles of water for four days. Sieve and take half a glass three times daily for two weeks. This is a very good remedy for any type of intestinal ulcer.

4.) External Ulcer:

The white milky sap of the unripe pawpaw contains a high percentage of papain, which is used for chronic wounds or ulcers. This can be obtained by making a slight cut on the unripe pawpaw fruit to allow the juice to drop. Papain is also present in the ripe pawpaw fruit.

5.) Convulsion:

The dry, brown pawpaw leaf is a good remedy for convulsion. Pick up the dry, fallen pawpaw leaves and grind into powder. Add two tablespoonfuls of the powder to half a glass of palm kernel oil. Stir well and rub all over the body. This preparation is of great help during an attack of convulsion. It quickly arrests the abnormal condition. It is also helpful in cases of high fever to bring down the body temperature.

6.) Bronchitis:

The root of the pawpaw plant is a good remedy for respiratory problems, especially bronchitis. Bring some pawpaw roots to boil. Take half a glass thrice daily. For cough, simply chew a tender pawpaw root and swallow the juice.

7.) Piles:

Pawpaw root is effective for the cure of piles. Prepare as for bronchitis. Dosage is half a glass twice daily.

8.) Impotence:

Cut two unripe pawpaw fruits into pieces (seeds and peel inclusive). Bring to boil in eight bottles of water. Take half a glass thrice daily.

(AZOMA CHIKWE)

Credit: Sunnewsonline

Govt releases N995m for agric insurance

Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina
The Federal Government has released N995.2m ($5m) to the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation for the development agricultural insurance in the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this at the inauguration of Lagos head office annex of NAIC.

“I have given a directive to NAIC to totally reform and reposition agricultural insurance. To ensure this, I have directed the release of $5m to NAIC to support its institutional reforms, strengthening of its operations and roll-out of agricultural insurance products,” he said.

The minister also said he had directed NAIC to ensure that it worked with global reinsurance companies to make agricultural insurance in Nigeria of global standard.

He said government had introduced the Growth Enhancement Scheme to provide subsidied farm materials to farmers directly through electronic coupons on their mobile telephones or the electronic wallet (e-wallet) scheme.

According to him, the e-wallet scheme has been a huge success.

“Within the past three years, over 14.5 million farmers have received their farm inputs directly through the e-wallet scheme,” he said.

According to him, this included over 2.5 million women farmers, many of whom received subsidised farm inputs for the first time.

The Chairman, NAIC, Mrs. Chioma Ohakim, said the firm is the pioneer insurer of agricultural risks in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

She said the current board of directors, which is the sixth in the history of the corporation, was inaugurated in September, 2013.

The chairman said upon inauguration, the board immediately commenced work by putting in place some critical arrangements including appointment of its vital committees to oversee the challenging task of turning the corporation around.

She said for the first time in the history of the corporation, the board organised a board and management retreat, where highly cerebral facilitators helped to dissect all issues concerning the smooth-running of the corporation.

At the retreat, she said that core values, vision and mission statements of the corporation emerged.

The chairman said the inauguration of the building in Lagos wqs one of the results of many acts of synergy employed towards enhancing the visibility of the corporation in the nation’s business environment.

She said to achieve the objectives of the firm, it restructured the operation of the corporation in different areas.

She added that it enhanced customer service and improved turnaround time; it re-branded and improved the visibility of the corporation.

This, she stressed, increased market penetration, leading to an increase in premium income.

Others, she added, were improvement in staff training and development as well as improved staff welfare.

She said it also ensured the deployment of the ICT in the corporation, creation of succession plan for senior and middle management levels and improved corporate governance.

The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr. Gus Wiggle, said the inauguration of the NAIC office in Lagos was a good development.

Accessibility to agricultural insurance, he added, would be an end to colossal loss by farmers in the state.

A former President, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Mrs. Laide Osijo, said it was cogent for NAIC to do a lot of training and workshops to enlighten the farmers on the benefits of having insurance.

She assured the corporation of the council’s support.

(Punch)

FG Earmarks N600m To Compensate Farmers Affected By Bird Flu

The federal government has set aside the sum of N600 million to compensate farmers whose farms were affected by the avian influenza (Bird Flu).

“So far, 300 farmers were identified as being affected from 18 states of the federation where the disease had manifested,” the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said.

He made this known at a function at Tahir Guest Palace Hotel, Kano, on Monday, during the “Training-of-Trainers on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Workshop,” organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the federal government of Nigeria.

Adesina was represented by a director from the ministry, Dr AbdulGaniu Abubakar, who further stated that 255 farms were so far detected as being affected by the disease.

“One million birds have been depopulated. Our record shows that out of the 255 farms that were affected, Kano has the largest share with 158 farms affected in the 18 states,” he revealed.

He called on the government of Kano State to be up and doing in combating the disease.

“We directed our staff at the ministry to work hand in hand with the Kano State Government in controlling the menace,” stated the minister’s representative.

(Leadership)