The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Entrepreneurial Development and Director for Ibom Led, Mr. Ime Uwah has said that some of the 800 beneficiaries of Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (EAP) will be sent to China for further exposure, depending on their line of businesses.
He stated this on a radio programme anchored by Pamela Akpomedaye, Monday, in Uyo.
He further mentioned that where the beneficiaries have plans to misuse the grant money, they should know that the Governor has requested that feedbackp should be gotten from the beneficiaries after 3 months, so as to encourage him to do more.
“As at Friday after the flag off of the disbursements, we started what we call Baseline Monitoring and Evaluation Exercise.
“When we’re doing the Baseline Monitoring and Evaluation Exercise, we don’t just go there to ask questions, we also brand their shops using the Arise logo and this gives them visibility.
“It means that we’re visiting all the 800 beneficiaries to see things for ourselves, we’ll ask some questions to know how many people they have employed so far.
“We want to understand the kind of business they are doing and where they were before the money entered their hands. So immediately after that exercise, the money will enter their hands.
“So in 3 months, we’ll go back and see their progress and those that have added one more employee or done a new business and we’ll take note of them.
“Then we’ll get back to the Governor and he’ll see whether there is improvement or not. We’re doing this to make Akwa Ibom people succeed and be serious with the businesses they are doing” he said.
Hon Uwah recalled that last week, the Governor flagged off the disbursement of the grants he had promised to give the trainees, adding that his focus is more on the training than the money, because he is of the belief that with education, one can have more money.
“Money is good, plenty of people are looking at the money but I believe that if you have education, you’ll see bigger money.
“In our country today, you can see that it’s not easy to do business. So that’s why learning is not something we can just push aside.
“And when you learn with your peers or other people that are doing the business, there are some things they can say and you decide to apply it to your business as well” he said.
© Mfonobong Assam
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