Select a LAPO Client Victoria Ajayi Elizabeth Batsone Virginia Etobe Victoria Ubebe Grace nwajei Doris Iwhiwhu Lucky Oghuvwe Martha Olulu Stella Ebuwa Cecilia Farumen Elizabeth Okafor Sarah Oziwele Patricia Onwubdonu Nkechi Okwudibie Doris Aizenora Eje Okpu Roseline Adamu Helen Igbinosa

LAPO Made Me What I Am Today

Elizabeth Okafor
It is said that little drops of water make a mighty ocean. This is true of Elizabeth Okafor.
When in 1998, Elizabeth took her very first loan of N5, 000 from Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) for business development, many laughed at her, and described the action as a needless risk.

She was however resolute and never allowed fears to steal from her and prevent her from pursuing her dream. Today, her life is a story of abundant success.

From a very lowly state as a poor Mbiri girl, she courageously weathered through the storm and is today an embodiment of success. Apart from the fact that Elizabeth is able to cope with the educational needs of her children in various higher institutions of learning in the country, she is making a lot of impact in the lives of others, especially those who work with her in her small palm oil processing factory at Umunede, Delta State.

Born in 1954 into a very humble family, this dark-complexioned mother of seven children hailes from Mbiri, a town in Delta State. She is of average height and lives with her children in a bungalow, which she and her husband struggled to build a couple of years back.

This is located at 27, Alikwe Street, Ugbekun Quarters, Umunede, Delta State. There is no denying the fact that all is not well with her and her household as she spoke. The compound wore an unusually quiet look with large photographs of her husband, Godwin Okafor, placed conspicuously in every corner in the living room. She was dressed in complete black attire signifying mourning. It was later confirmed that a few months back, she lost her dear husband whom she had been married to for 27 years. Inspite of this unpleasant situation, she was warm in her reception and spoke extensively about her life and support being received from LAPO.

Just like most girls of her time, Elizabeth was not equipped with the basic skills necessary for an empowered adult life. She had a very poor educational background and quite unfortunately was also not taken through any self-sustaining skill.

It was by a stroke of luck that she even managed to finish her primary education. If not for the intervention of her uncle who saw her through, this would have been unaccomplished too. She recalled the problems.

Her father, Mr. Malikue Obumeze, a polygamist had four wives and eleven children. This made feeding in the family a difficult task. Being illiterate himself, he did not place premium on formal education. Another obstacle that inadvertently added up to kill her dream of getting western education was the poor financial situation of her parents, being poor rural farmers. Even if the man had wanted to, the negative cultural practice that forbade education to female children at the time, coupled with their poor economic background, would have discouraged him from doing so.

With this harsh situation on ground, Elizabeth needed no soothsayer to drum it in to her ears that her future would certainly be bleak unless success is sought through hard work and commitment. No wonder that from her teenage period, she became involved in one form of business or the other.

This enterprising businesswoman began by meeting the demands of local food consumers in her vicinity. She would purchase petty food items such as rice, garri, beans and oil on credit for sale only to pay wholesalers back after selling them.

Although the business attracted little profits, Elizabeth said she preferred it to prostitution just for a few dirty naira notes, as most other girls were doing. She was consistent in this trade until after her marriage in 1977 when her late husband, Godwin, who was a fashion designer, urged a change to textile business. This was considered more profitable.

With a take-off capital of N500 provided by him, she found no difficulty in changing as she had understudied people already in the business. Elizabeth said N500 was a very big sun in 1978, enough to transact business and stock wrappers as the naira still had a lot of value. ?With the advice and financial support of my husband, I traded in textile materials for 12 good years. I would buy goods at the popular Onitsha market at wholesale prices only to resell them at the Umunede local market.?

She was actually recording appreciable progress in her textile business until the economic recession, precipitated by the introduction of the structural adjustment programme in the 80s, set in causing an upset in her business. This was happening even as her financial commitment in the family became burdensome. ?Things became difficult. I felt real poverty. My business crumbled and we could no longer feed well.? In spite of her toil in an effort to improve the dwindling economic fortunes of her fast increasing family size, things unfortunately nose-dived, slipping the once happy family back into acute depression and penury. Elizabeth tried all efforts to re-capitalize but all attempts met with frustrations as finance, which was initially a non-issue became a deep-seated monster, unwilling to give way.

A very hard working woman though who does not believe in failures, Elizabeth had to fold up her 12-year old textile business in 1990 only to commence that of the palm oil which was very lucrative at the time. This was in 1990. She would buy in gallons at Ekwulobia market in Anambra state at comparably cheap prices, to resell them at the local market in Umunede, Delta State.

Although the oil market was really flourishing for many of her competitors, she was not raking in enough profit and was thus seriously worried. Her problem was simply lack of capital to enable her buy in large quantities. This is with a view to increasing her profit margin. As in previous cases, her relentless hunger for business success fuelled her desire for credit.

She went everywhere in search of soft loans with possible friendly terms of repayment but came across non. She thought of taking her trouble to local moneylenders but was repelled by the high interest rate charged. She was also unable to access credit from formal financial institutions, which demanded fixed assets and other valuable property as collateral.

It was at this crisis point in 1998 that the soul-reviving news of Lift Above Poverty Organization, LAPO, a micro finance institution, filtered into her ears through a close friend of hers, Fidelia Abienowa, who is presently her union leader in Umunede.

Without nursing any doubt in her mind, she took good advantage of the opportunity and joined other new entrants in a pre-loan training for six weeks after which she was granted her first loan of N5, 000.

She made real progress with regular loans from LAPO and soon started to rent palm oil plantations at Umunede. She would rent acres of plantations, cut the ?banga? fruits and pack them to milling factories as other co-competitors in the palm oil trade were doing.

Elizabeth had a dream and therefore did not stop at this level. With the help of LAPO and other contributions, she pressed on and soon started to acquire her own milling machines to facilitate work and to maximize profit. ?Without the financial support of LAPO, this would have passed for a mere dream. In the year 2001, for instance, LAPO bought a milling machine worth N35, 000 for me. In all, I have four machines now for different purposes in my factory. The organization is not relenting in this direction.?

Elizabeth who belongs to Idumoba I Union in Umunede, Delta State said she has benefited from a number of LAPO loans but could not easily recall the numbers, as her loans cards are full.

Although not specific about the figure, she said she is recording good proceeds with which she is fending for the family. ?With proceeds from my business undertaking, I pay school fees, cloth and feed my children. They are seven in all four boys and three girls. I am determined to ensure good education for all of them.?

Elizabeth recently bought a 504 pick-up van to ease the transport difficulties her factory was hitherto experiencing and also to strengthen her operations.

Presently, her cottage factory has the capacity to produce palm oil that can fill up two wagons in a day. Prices of 20-litre containers at the factory go for between N3, 000 and N3, 800 depending on the season.

Elizabeth, a middle-aged woman said she has attended a number of health workshops, GELT, D & G (Democracy and Governance) and Micro business management counseling workshops. She has four pieces of lands yet undeveloped.
She is proud to be a client of LAPO and said she has no intention of quitting.

Drug Rehab Program | Seo Web Design | Discount Luxury Watches | Rock | garden shed | Diatomite | Multiple sclerosis