Chairman of Dangote Groups and founder of Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), Alhaji Aliko Dangote is set to empower 18,000 women in Edo State.

The Executive Director, Dangote Industries Limited, Halima Aliko-Dangote disclosed this.

She said; “The Foundation is planning to come to Edo and empower 18,000 women in 18 Local Governments through the micro-grants scheme and it is expected that these funds will generate a positive ripple effect on the incomes, livelihoods and poverty levels of the beneficiaries”.

“The programme is already running in other states in Nigeria and is being extended to Edo State to empower women. So far, since the ADF micro-grants began in 2012, the sum of N3.584 billion has been disbursed to women across Kano, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Lagos, Niger, Nasarawa and Sokoto states.”

“Thousands of beneficiaries across the partner states, who are mainly small-scale entrepreneurs, market women, subsistence farmers and petty traders in items like soft drinks and pure water, have been able to expand their business, improve their incomes and livelihoods, and take better care of their families.”

“In some states, a mobile phone/bank cards to start up or improve their income-generating activities were also added to the grants as a delivery mechanism for the funds in partnership with the respective State and Local Governments and mobile money/bank operators.”