Building Lives: Testimonies of RHAB-YESS
By Ofonime Honesty
(Ofonime Honesty writes that the Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey Youth Empowerment Support Scheme (RHAB-YESS) offers a viable lifeline to entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams.)
A serial entrepreneur and politician, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey has always advocated that the private sector has a prominent role to play in the nation's development.
In contributing his quota to making the idea come to fruition, Bassey, who ventured into entrepreneurship at the tender age of 17, is focused on grooming a generation of young entrepreneurs. Through his foundation, Rt Hon Hon. Aniekan Bassey Youth Empowerment Support Scheme (RHAB-YESS) hundreds of entrepreneurs have cash support to boost their businesses.
An excerpt on the official website of the scheme reads: "in RHAB-YESS Foundation, our focus and approach to young entrepreneurs and women are holistic through Capital Financing/Funding of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); Skill empowerment of Artisans and educational support to indigent students. This approach is hinged on the fact that MSMEs are responsible for significant employment and income generation opportunities across the world. MSMEs have been identified as key drivers of poverty alleviation and development."
Since 2019, when it was officially launched, till date, it has serviced the needs of about 400 Small and Medium Scale Businesses across the 31 Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. About 380 artisans have also been trained in the scheme.
The business support beneficiaries are drawn from applicants in a monthly online contest on the RHAB-YESS official Facebook page.
Each person creates a five minutes video documentary of their business.
Each video clip is uploaded on YouTube, and the link added to an online form duly completed before submission.
Owners of best three videos selected by Facebook users are made to slug it out in an online ballot involving Facebook users. Cash prizes range from one million Naira, five hundred thousand Naira, two hundred and fifty thousand Naira, one hundred and fifty thousand Naira, among others. So far, about 35 million Naira has been expended on the scheme.
RHAB-YESS is open to persons from all the 31 Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. Applicants must be 18 years of age and above; and their businesses must be ones which does not contravene federal and state laws.
The scheme has Mr. Darlington Udobong and Mr. Godswill Bassey as managers.
This reporter recently embarked on an independent evaluation tour of businesses of some beneficiaries of the scheme. About 15 beneficiaries spoke on their experiences so far in business and how the RHAB-YESS support helped.
Being a serialized special report, only three testimonies have been captured in this first episode.
Mrs Utibe-Akwa Ime is the founder of Utytrends Enterprises, a company which specializes in cereal, food processing and cosmetology.
A pilot product of the company, UNIK Milky Custard is gradually becoming a household name in Nigeria. Major distributors now queue to supply the product to the length and breadth of the country.
Established in September 2018, Utytrends Enterprises is however a story of starting from scratch and later attaining success through hardwork, tenacity and perseverance.
She holds a Higher National Diploma in Business Administration and Management from Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of Uyo, Uyo.
A fresh polytechnic graduate back then, Utibe opted to unleash her entrepreneurial drive instead of chasing unavailable white collar jobs.
Utytrends Enterprises was was however born into a tough economic climate worsened by lack of sufficient capital.
An office space was rented in Uyo, but there were no facilities and capacity for mass production.
"I had launched Utytrends with just 4 buckets of UNIK Custard. Following the aggressive marketing I was doing on social media, orders started coming in, demand increased but there was no available product to sell. In the office, I had no table, no machine, I only had a small bucket which served as my mixer, I did not even have up to 10 buckets of custard for sale. I operated like that for about one year," she narrated.
According to her, a distributor from Onitsha, Anambra State, visited Uyo in 2019 to indicate interest in distributing the product in Anambra State.
"I did not have money to produce 5 units of custard, and here was someone requesting for 1000 units."
To meet the need, she ran helter skelter for assistance but found none. She applied for bank loan but could not meet the terms and conditions. Utibe resorted to staking all his academic credentials, birth certificate and certificate of origin to obtain a sum of money from a private lender.
She continued: "that was how I was able to produce and deliver on the order made by the distributor from Onitsha. That was about nine months after the order was made. Someone even screenshot pictures of my products on Facebook and sent to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), so NAFDAC started chasing me."
On her RHAB-YESS experience, she narrated: "I later got NAFDAC certification but there was no money for production; that was when I saw the RHAB-YESS contest on the internet. I applied and was shortlisted. I was contesting against two persons who are social media influencers with very high online traffic. In the end, I managed to become the third runners-up, winning a hundred thousand Naira.
I used the money to purchase two manual sealing machines, packaging nylons and bags of starch to resume production."
A 100,000 Naira seed capital gave the business a huge boost - a clear case of preparation meeting opportunity.
Mrs Utibe-Akwa Ime has not rested on her oars. The business has expanded ever since. Located at 205 Aka Road, Uyo, the company now has 7 direct employees, with 22 serving as contract workers.
She foresees huge prospects for the company.
"Every business aims for expansion. My vision is to expand to the global market.
We will keep exploring local, organic raw materials, research and develop innovative techniques to help meet the vision of being among the leading cereal companies in Africa by 2027."
Another beneficiary, Blessing Aniedi, a graduate of Animal and Environmental Biology of University of Uyo, runs Treasure Castle, an interior decorations firm.
Upon birthing the business in 2019, debilitating economic circumstances hampered it for some months before a 100,000 Naira prize money from RHAB-YESS helped revved it back to life.
Operating from her Uyo home, Akpan delivers on order.
"I deliver nationwide. My services include all kinds of wall decorations, beddings, rug making and frames. Consistence has been key to our success, over the years," she said.
She said of RHAB-YESS, "what the scheme has done is amazing and thrilling. The scheme opened my mind, and I must say that the scheme introduced me a lot of things like always preparing for opportunities. It has really introduced me to a lot of things, making me understand the very intrinsic and intricate part of belonging to a network of young entrepreneurs who are committed. So I’m really grateful to the foundation for such an unusual."
Blessing Akpan, a Business Administration graduate of Heritage Polytechnic, Eket, is yet another beneficiary of the scheme who has made judicious use of the seed capital.
The 150,000 Naira which she won helped her brand, Blandy Organics to expand.
"Well, I used to produce based on demand, but with the money given to me, I was able to produce in large quantity, it has helped me deliver on time, because the products are already available for pickup," she informed the reporter.
"Not bad, at least people know about the brand , but we still need some equipments, a space (like a pickup point) and a bike, for easy delivery," When asked how the business is progressing.
Blessing added, "it has been an awesome experience doing business in Akwa Ibom State despite some challenges. The seed capital was of great benefit. The founder of the scheme, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey is doing a great job and I hope that he will continue to empower young entrepreneurs in Akwa Ibom State. I think other politicians and personalities should join forces with him to increase funds for this programme so that more entrepreneurs will benefit."
While many have won significantly higher sums of money on RHAB-YESS, the three entrepreneurs captured in this story judiciously utilized their modest seed capital. The funds solved pressing needs which helped their businesses thrive.
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