By Rasaq Adebayo
The Chairman of Ifelodun LCDA, Hon. Olufemi Okeowo has launched a cash grant tagged ‘OKEMONEY’ to support small-scale traders in the local council area.
According to the council boss, through the platform, 50 SMEs and artisans will receive a nonrefundable N50,000 cash for 22 months starting from September 2023.
A statement from the council stated: “Okemoney is an Empowerment Programme Initiative created by the smart working Chairman of Ifelodun Local Council Development Area, Mayor Olufemi Akanbi Okeowo to cushion the effect of the removal of Subsidy by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and to boost the economy of our esteemed Local Council by giving FREE CASH to petty traders.
“Okemoney is designed to help petty traders expand their trade through the provision of a nonrefundable FREE CASH of N50,000.
“The Okemoney empowerment programme initiative in Ifelodun LCDA is a novel government attempt to provide complementary economic services through social protection systems.
“The objective of this programme is to provide free cash to small-scale traders or artisans that usually cannot afford to fund their businesses.
“The beneficiaries of the Okemoney empowerment programme initiative are sellers of the foodstuff you cook, the beverages you drink, the airtime you use, and the kiosk items you buy. And there are thousands of them, across the 7 Wards of Ifelodun LCDA. These hardworking residents of Ifelodun LCDA are not “interesting” to the traditional lenders: they have little to no financial track record, they have no collateral, and some barely have formal identities. However, they are actively trading and in dire need of capital.
“The Okemoney Empowerment Programme will be initiated in September 2023. The programme when it commences is targeted at providing free cash to Petty traders and artisans aiming to improve their standards of living by expanding their businesses and to cushion the effect of the removal of the fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.
“The Okemoney empowerment programme initiative is one of the social intervention progammes of the Okeowo-led administration and comprises three products: OKEMONEY, OUNJE ARUGBO, and OUNJE ADUGBO. Ounje Arugbo was initiated in 2022 by the Okeowo-led government of Ifelodun LCDA, with an understanding that there are over 50% of residents of Ifelodun LCDA that cannot afford to purchase foodstuff to feed themselves and their families. The programme is tagged “Feeding the aged, the poor and the vulnerable.
“The Okeowo-led Government of Ifelodun LCDA acquires and disseminates food FREE OF CHARGE, especially to the lower class. It gathers the food grains from the makers and conveys them at no cost to the beneficiaries who are transparently selected across the 7 Wards by committee members, chaired by Mayor Olufemi Okeowo himself, to handle the palliatives with transparency while ensuring the speedy distribution of the items to those in dire need. During the last distributions, over 5000 households benefitted directly from the programme.
“The Okemoney empowerment programme initiative is targeted at benefitting a minimum number of 3000 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) on its first run which will last through July 2025. The Okemoney empowerment programme initiative was designed to fund the smallest of these MSMEs, who rarely have the means to access credit from banks or other traditional means. The Traders are required to be residents and operate their businesses in Ifelodun LCDA to qualify as beneficiaries of the scheme so that the government could properly map the target population for the Okemoney disbursement and use financial technology to facilitate the disbursement. In that sense, a team that is saddled with the responsibility of carefully selecting beneficiaries will bring forth beneficiaries once every month starting from September 2023 to receive the 50,000 Naira one-off free cash.
“The initiative is driven in the field by a team who registers the beneficiaries at their point of trade using their biodata, business information, and other necessary info. By early 2025, the Okemoney initiative will record over three thousand beneficiaries who would have received free cash of ₦50,000 each.
“OKEMONEY – Bridging the gap between the poor and the rich in Ifelodun LCDA.”
