This is the founder’s address that Eunice Okoh, Founder and Director of SOCASEMP INITIATIVE, delivered at the SAYLET ETI-OSA 2018 exhibition and closing event. You can also read the full SAYLET ETI-OSA 2018 report.
Welcome to the exhibition
Hello Everyone, Good morning.
My Name is EUNICE OKOH, Founder and Director of SOCASEMP INITIATIVE.
It is with great delight that I welcome each and every one of you to the Exhibition and closing event of our SAYLET ETI-OSA outreach training program for 2018. Please, a round of applause.
SAYLET is an acronym for skill acquisition, youth, leadership, and entrepreneurial training. The program aims to reach at least 6,000 youths and women across Nigeria within the next three years. We have just concluded our first training project. Over the past month, we successfully impacted at least 400 beneficiaries. They learned skills like Digital Literacy, Catering, Music, Wig making, Fashion Creation and Design, and Fine Arts. Others learned Website Design, Make Up, Event Planning and Decorations, and Dance. We also enjoyed extra-curricular activities like our business seminars, the Socasemp Inspire seminar, a health and wellness course, and our fitness challenge.
This has been a beautiful and remarkable experience for us all. It has given us the opportunity and platform to learn, network and grow. Very importantly, it has let us make an impact in people’s lives while fostering development for our Nation, Nigeria.
We are very proud of all our beneficiaries, because they made our efforts worth it. Their readiness, willingness and passion for learning made this project all the more inspiring. It also made our goal easier to achieve. And I’m confident to say that this is the beginning of our journey together as a community and family. Together, we will pursue purpose, growth and greatness. We will shake this world together.
Thank you to our team and partners
To all my Coaches, Team Members and Helpers of the work, especially everyone on this project, I say a very Big Thank You! You all sacrificed so much to be with me through this project. Not only did you carry out your duties, you did so with so much love, joy and support. God bless you. You all are Blessings! Please, a round of applause for our lovely team.
Very importantly, I say a huge Thank You to all our partners. Especially, I thank our highly esteemed Partner, First City Monument Bank, who believed in this dream and threw their weight behind us. Thank you so much for your lovely feedback on the program; it means a lot to us.
Truly, when you came on board this project, it sent us a strong message and boosted our confidence. If you have an inspiring dream that serves a purpose greater than yourself, and you dare to step out, the right support will come. That support will not only bring the dream alive but also keep it alive and growing. So thank you so much for everything.
Our vision
Socasemp means Sought Out Cities, Arts, Skills, and Empowerment Initiative. Our vision is to seek out places with high needs for Empowerment. Then, we respond with initiatives that target:
- Poverty Alleviation
- Sustainable Livelihood
- Mind and Capacity Development
- Nation Building
Like I always say, this vision is so Big! It goes way beyond these trainings. As a matter of fact, the training is just the first part of the grand scheme.
This is because our work is a continual process of:
- raising people whose minds and capacities are refined and rightly shaped,
- sustaining them with value that they can rise with,
- creating and delivering to them valuable relationships and platforms for relevance,
- helping them grow into their full potential till they become leaders and influencers in their fields.
This is not a 5-week plan. Rather, it is almost a life plan, which takes TIME and sustainable resources to achieve. So you see how the training is just the tip of the iceberg?
In short, this is an institution to make positive and lasting change in human lives. It focuses especially on the less privileged, those whom society has historically, systematically and constantly denied access.
And mind you, these are not just the people who don’t have a degree, forgotten in a creek somewhere. No! Not just them.
This also includes people with some form of education. How hard is it to get an education in Nigeria today? Yes, some don’t have that, and they are foremost in our plans. But what of those who do, and yet still lack the opportunity for inclusion in society?
This isn’t just a matter of degrees, because degrees alone don’t close the gap. Education is not enough for people whom society has long excluded and denied access. People need inclusion, access to valuable relationships, mentorship, and platforms for expression and relevance. At the same time, they need to create sustainable commercial value for themselves and those around them. This right here is just a thumbnail sketch of the big picture.
A call for partners
Now you can imagine the amount of work, resources, collaborations, partnerships and support this requires. It is long term, but because little drops of water still count, we appreciate every level of support. I can’t do it alone. This vision creates an environment where people can live purposefully. In it, like minds can collaborate to make a lasting impact in their time.
This is why I’m calling on more like-minded people and organizations to join us and partner with us, because there’s so much to be done.
For instance, as I mentioned earlier, the SAYLET program will reach 6,000 to 15,000 Youths and Women across Nigeria within the next 3 years. As we conclude this project and gather feedback, we will set out for the next training.
However, pulling this off requires a lot of logistics. Largely, it depends on the resources we are able to pull together.
That is why we are calling for more partnerships and support, because we know that we can reach more with more. So please get involved in whatever way you can. Our support cards are here, and you can also give online. Alternatively, talk to us about other ways to make this dream a reality for many others in communities across Nigeria. We welcome and appreciate every level of support.
With that said, I welcome you once again to this moment. Thank you for coming out to celebrate with us. We’ll be so grateful if you show some love to our beneficiaries exhibiting their works by buying from them, no matter how little. It will go a long way in adding to their joy.
Thank you very much and God Bless You.
Eunice OkohFounder and Director, SOCASEMP INITIATIVE
