Abia LIFE-ND Empowers Incubatees, Organizes Refresher Course On Working Capital

By Raymond Benson, KMCO LIFE-ND Abia State.

The Abia State Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises, Niger Delta, (LIFE-ND), on July 8, 2021, commenced a special round of Business Development and Orientation Training in Umuahia.

The training which is titled, “LIFE-ND Capacitated Training” is to re-acquaint the agribusiness beneficiaries with more knowledgeable skills to effectively utilize their Working Capitals as they begin their entrepreneurship in chosen agro enterprises.

Speaking on the importance of the training, the National Agribusiness Promotion Coordinator, Mrs. Anthonia Esenwa emphasized the need to refresh the minds of the beneficiaries on the already taught skills of business management, essentially on the importance of business plan, thorough understanding of record keeping, marketing plans and strategies to make informed decisions for profit making, now that the incubatees have been empowered with Working Capitals.

Mrs. Esenwa who identified some grey areas during her monitoring and supervision visits said the incubatees still need adequate understanding of business management if they really want to succeed.

“This is to refresh the minds of the incubatees and incubators on the already taught business management. We’ve already taught them business management. They don’t seem to understand it very well, probably it was done for quite sometime now. The Project believes that they understand the business very well for them to be able to know their expectations”, she said.

Speaking further, she noted that the training would also build capacity on financial inclusion.

” We also want to do financial inclusion. Every financial institution will want to see a good business plan for them to have confidence to lend to you. The way you write your business plan will convince the financier that you know the enterprise very well. Therefore every participant is expected to prepare a business plan before we leave here “, she concluded.

Also commenting on the essence of business plan, the State Agribusiness Promotion Officer, Mr. Chukwuekezie Godwin said that the training was for incubatees to have informed decisions on inputs and monetary qualifications,
” in such a way that he or she can estimate accurately the unit cost of production which is key in determining pricing mechanism so as not to operate on losses”, he pointed out.

One of the women-headed householders from Isiala Ukwu Mbato in Obinwa Local Government Area, Mrs. Hope Emmanuel said she had now acquired more “insight on planning for my business. I lacked understanding six months ago”.

Another male incubatee, Mr. Okenkpa Pascal of UPS Farm Extension, Umunna Nsulu, Isiala Ngwa North described the training as “awesome” noting that he could now manage resources and record keeping effectively.

Abia LIFE-ND began the process of empowering the incubatee beneficiaries on May 24, 2021 with Working Capitals under the supervision of the State Project Coordinator, Uchenna Rowland Onyeizu,Ph.D.

The 2‐day training which had its venue at Kolping Hotel, Umuahia, is designed to have specific topics on Agric insurance, farm planning-budgeting, farm record and book keeping, feasibility study and analysis including individual presentations amongst others.