Whitefield Foundation was incorporated in 2003; and from initially providing educational sponsorship and scholarship to a few indigent and un-affording students from her base in Lagos State, Nigeria, has evolved into a nationwide empowerment organization building sustainable communities.
From the CEO’s personal experience of quality education deprivation due to being the only girl-child amongst four brothers to her getting married to a man that was orphaned at just 11 years old and underwent great educational setbacks and had to learn to earn a living at such a young and tender age, Whitefield Foundation came from a place of passion, deep empathy and commitment.
In compliance to global SDG best practices, Whitefield Foundation has remained focused on access to quality education, promotion of decent work and economic growth, as well as poverty eradication and zero hunger.
She has since implemented initiatives that have far-reached and empowered individuals from all the 36 States of Nigeria and the Federal Capital territory; with special attention on women; youths and everything else that enhances their well-being.
Through a variety of programs, the foundation has directly impacted over 162,500 individuals and then through other ambassadorial system another 320,000 plus people have so far been empowered indirectly.
So many success stories abound as testimonials :
(A) Educational Support Scheme
TESTIMONIAL (Port-Harcourt)
Eunice Stephen, a 16 year old teenage pregnancy secondary school drop-out was often a subject of mockery in the neighbourhood and had to fight for her self-esteem and sense of identity. All that changed in 2013, when she came in contact with the CEO, Whitefield Foundation under a very unusual circumstance.
After series of counselling sessions, she was absorbed into the WFF Education Support Scheme that saw her through secondary school and the university.
In 2019, Eunice graduated from the reputable University of Lagos with a Second Class Upper division degree in the Faculty of Education. She has since been married and now resides in Port Harcourt where she earns a good living from working with a social enterprise.
She now beams with vision of a bright future having been fully empowered by Whitefield Foundation to live a good life and with capacity to provide for herself and her child.
The said Whitefield Foundation educational support program focuses on making quality education accessible to all from primary to tertiary level.
The scheme activities also include payment of exam fees for final year public secondary school students, facilitating tutorial classes in compulsory subjects for secondary school leaving exams and University entry exams and full tuition scholarship for brilliant students of poor parents.
Eunice was only one of the hundreds of brilliant female beneficiaries of the program.
(B) LIBRARY SERVICES:
The foundation has renovated libraries in some public secondary schools and provided recommended books, computer systems with e-books, durable furnitures and inspiring ambience that encourages reading and studying.
We completed one of such in the outgoing year 2023 and we look forward to completing at least three in 2024 and many more in the coming years.
This 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Foundation seek to chronicle among others, the impact of the education support initiatives, the flagship program of the Foundation which has so far benefitted over 5,700 students in public schools across Nigeria.
(C) VOCATIONAL SKILLS
Whitefield Foundation’s robust vocational skills training program for disadvantaged women and unemployed youth, practically equips beneficiaries with skills that helps them to earn a living income.
The training includes courses in financial literacy, business and entrepreneurship skills, communication skills, digital skills and practical money-making skills ; with the portfolio of courses cutting across different sectors: hospitality, fashion, information technology and renewable energy solutions just to mention a few.
TESTIMONIALS (Lagos State):
In the year 2019, Anu Oshilaja, CEO of Annyz Bag benefited from the vocational skill training program, ‘SHAPE’; through which she was able to fine tune and upskill her shoe and bag- making skills. She also learnt valuable business and entrepreneurship skills that helped her reposition her business. Her business has since grown by virtue of the training and mentoring.
By 2020, the foundation supported her with a financial grant to scale up and acquire an industrial machine which she could not afford. Now her business has grown and she has become an inspiration to many others.
Between 2011 and 2018, the vocational skill segment also ran creative skills training for youth in : Acting, Photography, Cinematography, Video Editing and more.
In 2019, The Coca-Cola Foundation partnered the vocational skills training for over 74,000 Nigerians. This major partnership allowed the organisation to scale her impact and reach more people most especially disadvantaged women and unemployed youth. The programs included ‘S.H.A.P.E 2020’, ‘SHAPE SIP’, & ‘EQUIP 60000’.
Through ‘EQUIP 60000’, the foundation trained over 74,000 youth across the 36 states of Nigeria and the federal capital territory using a hybrid approach of virtual and physical training.
The program, ‘EQUIP 60000’, also witnessed financial grant award to 1,100 top participants drawn from drawn from all the states of the federation with 50% of grant beneficiaries being women.
TESTIMONIAL (Lagos State):
Some of the participants have been able to scale the acquired skill and has so far transferred the skill to several other people.One of such is Omolara Lawrence, who herself has so far trained over 2,500 others. She has gone ahead to sign a contract with a Lagos State agency thereby giving her a state wide reach. An opportunity that has since changed her family finances.
TESTIMONIAL (Benin, Edo State)
Kenneth Ndukwe who lives in Benin is another beneficiary. From the ‘EQUIP 60000’ training and grant received, he was able to successfully and sustainably start a thriving agribusiness.
OTHER TESTIMONIALS for ‘EQUIP 60000’ are:
– Asa Hazo (Kaduna State)
– Ibrahim Alhassan(Kano State).
GRANT AWARDS:
Apart from Whitefield Foundation Money grant awards, vocational skill participants were also supported with tools like Business Registrations,Laptops, Sewing machines,Industrial Machines and many more.
Till date, the vocational skills training program of the foundation has directly empowered over 114,000 youth and women in Nigeria with grant awards to over 1,250 business owners.
OTHER INTERVENTIONS
In sheer pragmatism, Whitefield Foundation has also been involved in poverty alleviation, disaster relief and medical intervention programs in order to tackle existential problems that affect women and youth in our nation.
Some of the initiatives include medical relief intervention to assist victims of the unfortunate violence that broke out in Nigeria during the October 2022 #EndSars protests.
With the support of her ever responsive partners, the foundation was able to defray medical bills of 185 patients across 23 hospitals in around 10 states of the federation.
In 2022, the foundation was able to empower 2,800 small holder farmers (80% women) and victims of flooding with high yielding, disease-resistant seedling to help them rebuild their means of livelihood. The relief intervention, named Operation Ladder, was majorly funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation. Other partners include Sterling One Foundation, Chi Pharmaceuticals and The Capstone.
W.A.S.H Supplies were provided to 8,759 families in Anambra and Delta States of Nigeria in response to the floods that displaced families in some parts of South East,Nigeria, the Niger Delta and 10 other states in Nigeria.
To celebrate 20 years of impact, the Foundation is giving grants to 30 MSMEs to help them sustain and grow their business in the face of high inflation and economic upheavals.
The Foundation will not have been able to achieve the impact and success without the generous support of her partners and sponsors.
On this occasion of this 20th anniversary the foundation expresses gratitude to all her donors, sponsors and partners that have contributed to her programs sustainability.
The vision of Whitefield Foundation remains to reach 1 million Nigerians with empowerment by the year 2025. They are positive that this is achievable.
The foundation believes that Nigeria with a reported population average of 19 years is a country of vibrant youth that needs to be supported especially in education and vocational skills training for entrepreneurship.
The Whitefield Foundation is open to partnership and support from well-meaning individuals and corporate organizations to work with her to bring education and empowerment to millions of distressed Nigerians.
The narrative that Nigeria is one of the poorest nation on earth is one that should and must be changed and is only possible if we all work together and support organizations like the Whitefield Foundation to eradicate poverty through education and empowerment.
