From Akara Seller To Restaurant Owner: Moneme Champions Revolving-Fund Empowerment
For Dr Juliet Hasana-Moneme, true empowerment is measured by what beneficiaries build after receiving support, not simply by the money placed in their hands.
The PRP FCT senatorial candidate has made a case for a revolving-fund model that combines financial support with skills, mentoring, market access and accountability, saying the approach can help more women become economically independent.
Moneme illustrated her approach with the story of a woman who, according to her, was struggling with family debts and earning a living by selling plastic goods when she sought her assistance.
Rather than give her cash alone, Moneme said she helped the woman identify a more viable skill in food preparation, particularly akara and fried yam, and provided the basic items she needed to start.
She also promoted the woman’s business personally, helping her attract customers and grow from a small food vendor into a restaurant owner.
According to Moneme, the woman later began supplying food to visitors at the local government secretariat while growing her business and savings.
The experience, she said, reinforced her belief that empowerment programmes should go beyond handing out money.
She argued that beneficiaries need start-up support, mentoring, supervision, savings mechanisms and access to markets if small businesses are to survive and grow.
Moneme said she had also used a revolving-fund approach in community programmes, with beneficiaries making regular contributions and repayments that enabled other women to access the same pool of funds.
She said a similar model was adopted by a women’s organisation she led in Abuja and remained active even after she handed over leadership.
“We need to make sure that the money you give to your people for investment is not free. It is going to be a revolving fund,” she said.
The senatorial candidate now wants to take the model into constituency empowerment if elected, identifying women’s skills acquisition, economic empowerment and access to credit as three areas on which she says women in the FCT should hold her accountable.
She also proposed creating a database of residents across the FCT’s six area councils to identify beneficiaries, understand their needs and connect them with relevant opportunities.
For Moneme, the goal is to ensure that one woman’s opportunity does not end with her, but creates room for another woman to rise.
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