It was a wonderful experience on Saturday 9th November 9, 2024 as the Ibadan Archdiocesan Laity Council holds her annual seminar /workshop. The event started with the holy Mass at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chaplaincy U.I., Ibadan.

The Mass was celebrated by the Archdiocesan Laity Chaplain, Very Rev. Fr. Paul Asawale assisted by the Assistant Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. John Paul Nnajiofor.

After the Mass the lay faithful proceeded to the hall for the seminar with the theme: “Sustainable Development”. Other outlined sub-topics included: “Earning Leverage income and Sustainable Financial empowerment scheme”.

The Seminar Committee Chairman, Dr. Cyril Osigwe, stated the objectives of the seminar as:

1. To provide a veritable platform for the Laity for easy access to financial resources for business purposes in the form of grants, donations and soft loans.
2. To train participants in practical skills required to develop good and implementable business plans and proposals.
3. To bring funding sources closer to beneficiary through direct and personal interactions.
4. To encourage more lay faithful to go into entrepreneurship and become job creators.
5. To promote the formation of laity cooperative to pull resources required for business purposes.
6. Helping people to reach their financial goals.
7. To bring cash flow budgets into balance, order and fix credit reports, reduce debts.

The first lecture was anchored by Mr. Badejo who stood in for Mrs. Iyabo Mabel Ojogbede who was unavoidable absent. In his paper titled “Embracing sustainable sources of income”. He advised the participants that instead of lamenting about challenges, they need to discover their potentials and tap into opportunities around them. He then stated some sustainable sources of income as;

• Agriculture which include crop farming, livestock, agro processing.
• Renewable energy - solar, wind, biogas, energy efficiency.
• Digital economy - software development, e-commerce, digital marketing.
• Creative industry - music, film fashion, art.
• Manufacturing - food processing, textiles, pharmaceuticals. Services-health care, education, tourism, finance.
• Technology - app development, cyber security, data analysis.
• Environmental conservation - waste management, sustainable forestry. Internal financing-personal savings, family and friends.
• External financing
• Debit financing - loans, debt financing institutions e.g. Bank of industry, Bank of Agriculture.
• Government loans e.g. SMEDAN, Sterling.
• Equity financing - Venture capital, private equity, Angel investors, Equity financing institutions.
• Alternate financing - supplier credit, leasing, Hire purchasing, franchising, partnership.
• Grants - Government grants, foundation grants, International donor agencies.
• Specialized financing - Bank of agriculture (for cooperatives). Bank of industry (for industrial projects).
• CBN MSME loan for micro, small and medium enterprises. Micro finance institutions.
• Match funding: Tony Elumelu foundation, Entrepreneurship programme, Dangote foundation entrepreneurship programme.
• SMEDAN’S Initiatives­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­- Business development services, talent hunt National skills development, Women In-Self Employment program (WISEP), Agribusiness and development, empowerment program, grants and growth support.
• Other options – crowd funding, peer-to-peer lending, business plan competitions.

In conclusion he implored the participants to consider factors like interest rates, repayment terms, equity dilution and control when choosing a financing option.

The second lecture was handled by Mr. Mike Osinachi Okoro on “Earning Leverage income. He started by giving definitions of sustainable development.

Sustainable development is a way of growing and developing a human society that meets the needs of the present while also ensuring the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is also an approach to growth and human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Speaking further, he said that leverage is the power to earn more and more while working less either by having people or money working for you. He stated that, for someone to leverage one needs people. He then stated two ways by which one can leverage as:

• Through one’s personal products and services
• Through other people’s products and services; by subscribing as a partner/franchise to a company and benefitting as their product is sold, adding that people without leverage work for those who leverage.

The last segment of the seminar was the skill acquisition programme which is the production of detergent and insecticide. It was handled by Mrs. Salau Olufunke Oshin. She stated that creating homemade soap can be a rewarding and useful skill. To the participants, she said that by making their own detergents and insecticides, they don’t only save money but also produce effective products for home use or business.

The seminar had over 100 participants including the Archdiocesan Laity Executive in attendance. The vote of thanks was given by the Workshop Committee Chairman, Dr. Cyril Osigwe while the closing prayer was said by Mrs. Modupe Adenuga.