Sunday Okobi
Former Managing Director of Access Bank, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede has urged Nigerians and organisations to impact lives positively by providing innovative solutions to social, economic as well as environmental challenges on the continent by giving.
His plea was echoed by the Chief Executive Officer of ACT Foundation, Mrs. Osayi Alile, who also stated that individuals and corporate bodies should help others achieve their set goals constructively by giving.
These were highlighted at the ACT Foundation Breakfast Dialogue which took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Lagos at the weekend with the theme: ‘Connecting the Dots’, where participants were encouraged to promote social enterprise by giving and building initiatives through health, entrepreneurship, environment and leadership.
Aig-Imoukhuede, who is also the founder and Chairman of Coronation Capital Nigeria Limited, stated that the dialogue was a gathering of people who want to do good; know how others are faring and how they can do much better, “and this is what ACT Foundation seeks to achieve. The foundation is centered on how to make Nigeria and other African countries better by stimulating the ability to impact more on people’s lives by giving.â€
He gave example of the Ford Foundation, a charity organisation which operates in Nigeria, having a wide breadth and impact, and has immensely impacted in human lives, adding that in the United States, the greater proportion of giving comes from individuals not even corporate bodies, “so you can talk about the structure of the economy, the income disparities among others as we may not necessarily see such structure in Nigeria, but the aim here is: can we mobilise $10 billion on an annual basis in giving in order to give life a meaning here?
“The US for example, the size of the (gift) giving is two per cent annually. In 2015, US gave about $300 billion to charity organisations for the purpose of helping humanity, and the impact was wonderful.
In her remark, Alile, who noted that her Foundation aims to provide basic services to those who need them by using the abilities of many NGOs, stated that ACT has been talking to a lot of people, and equally, a lot of people have been asking questions on how to better lives.
“So we have converged here with solutions to different issues and how we can move forward. These are the reason for today’s meeting. We give grants. We are going to announce the grantees for the four sectors we are dealing with on Monday which are health, environment, entrepreneurship and leadership. But we are really concerned about the sustainability of this organisation. We are going to do a lot of work in that aspect.
“ACT already had plans to do other developmental project but this is more strategic as we are going to look internally what the issues are, and bring people in the sector to raise fund and bring solutions, however, these are not going to be a solution for everyone. So we are dealing with fund raising, talent hunt, monetary and evaluation in the sector.â€
Many other speakers who deliberated on the impact of giving and helping people to achieve their dreams were Eme Essien, Country Director, International Finance Corporation Nigeria; Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment; Innocent Chukwuman, Regional Director, Ford Foundation; Ini Abimbola, CEO, ThistlePraxis Consulting; Sera Makka-Ugbade, Country Director, ONE Campaign among others.
