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LAPO Has Transformed My Business

Patricia Onwubdonu
Patricia Onwubdonu is an enterprising businesswoman who joined the list of loan beneficiaries of Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) in the year 2001.

A woman of exceptional courage and dogged determination, her challenge was how and where to access credit needed for the establishment of a dream business enterprise. With the entrance of LAPO into her life, this dream has now been translated into a concrete reality. She is today a fulfilled woman.

Patricia Onwubdonu was born about 34 years ago. She is the first daughter of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Raphael Odianke, a family made up of seven children. Being born into an enlightened family, she was not affected by the cultural practice that forbids girl-children access to formal education. Both parents wanted the best for all their children, irrespective of sex. Her father is a nurse and mother, a businesswoman dealing on textiles, such as Ankara, adire and other types of cloths. She had the rare privilege of attaining both primary and secondary education.

Mrs. Onwubdonu said she had the thought of proceeding to the university but for the pressure mounted against her by her parents who urged her to step aside to enable them also train her younger ones. This, she said, was not unconnected with the uncomfortable financial standing of the family. In her words: ?I had to step down so that my parents could concentrate on the educational development of my younger siblings in institutions of learning.?

She did however receive vocational education in fashion designing at the Boas Fashion Institution in Benin City, to complement her secondary education. Her parents wanted her to be self-fulfilled and less dependent on others in finance or whatever. Spurred on by this impetus, they therefore refused to stop at this stage but went a step further. They made a lot of sacrifices that enabled them rent a shop for her fashion business and also bought most of the machines and equipment essential for its smooth take-off. Through this effort, she was adequately prepared for future challenges. It is therefore very understandable why she was already somewhat financially strong and able to cater for her needs even long before joining Mr. Paul Onwubdonu in marriage in the year 2000. She was already on the threshold of success, ?able to render useful financial assistance to needy members of my family.?

Her marriage to Mr. Paul Onwubdonu, an average businessman, did not make her to relax her drive for economic independence and self-dignity. Instead of depending wholly on the income of her husband or on the proceeds from her fashion business, as most others are wont to do, she started dreaming about possible diversification to other business areas. She embarked on this exercise with a view to attaining a good measure of economic success. She considered it unwise to depend wholly on her husband for every of her needs. ?A woman must be supportive of her family and economically self-sustained. This is the only way she can contribute to the development of her family,? she says.

Thus, after a well-researched market situation that spanned several months, she decided to diversify into poultry business. The reason is not far fetched. In the whole of Ogwashi-uku at the time, nobody was into the business. It was therefore a big market waiting to be tapped. Being a foresighted businesswoman, she did not want the opportunity to pass her by.

Her major problem was finance. She did not have the required capital to begin. This was how the search for credit began. Apart from her husband who offered some help, nobody else showed interest. The urgent need for credit did not push her into the hands of shylock moneylenders. ?Their conditions are very stringent and adverse to business,? she says.

Approaching formal financial institutions was clearly out of the question since she had no landed property or something valuable to pledge as collateral. She became intensely worried. With the support from her husband, combined with other personal savings, she was able to raise the sum of N20, 000. Since the money was grossly inadequate to do anything meaningful, she started a vigorous search for fund.

She happened to discuss her predicament with one of her family friends, Mrs. Agatha, who luckily was already acquainted with the lofty ideals and goals of LAPO. She thereafter made personal enquiries, after which she saw the necessity to join the group. She was later made to undergo a series of pre-loan and microbusiness training which later qualified her for her first loan of N7, 000 in 2001. She is presently the secretary of Chidima Fourquare Union at Ogwashi-Uku. With this money and her personal savings of N20, 000 at hand, she rented a shop and equally bought some chicken feed and other poultry materials. Thus she started the business in earnest.

Her second loan was N15, 000 and third, N20, 000. Summarily, within a period of three years of joining LAPO, she got a total of N80, 000 to consolidate her business. Mrs. Onwubdonu did not misapply the loans and neither did she waste any precious time before she ploughed back every single kobo she made as profit into the business. After a little while, the impact of the loans started to show brilliantly on her poultry business and she became very grateful to LAPO.

Her store is now well equipped with poultry materials and other related items such as poultry feed, drugs, chicks, flour, salad materials and others.

She makes an average of N6, 000 profit weekly and does a contribution (?Olodara?) of N100 daily. She equally saves N1, 000 monthly for the children's future. Her business is located on Isa Road, Opposite Charley Door, Ogwashi-uku, Delta State.

Onwubdonu is now well able to contribute greatly to the family budget. She is able to make provision for her family needs such as food, clothing, rent and so on. She is equally making plans for her children's education and future. On the whole, she enjoys LAPO and the benefits that have accrued to her by virtue of her membership and encourages other women to join in order to be able to taste also of its goodness.

Apart from regular and asset loans, Mrs. Onwubdonu has benefited from GELT (Gender, Environment and Leadership Training) where ?I learnt that man and women are created equal by God and can achieve whatever they set their minds to? and the various health trainings, which ?have taught me about nutrition and prevention of various diseases.?

She is full of praises for LAPO, urging the organization to grant her asset loan to purchase a refrigerator to improve on her business. She is very pleased with the installmental mode of loan repayment, describing it as ?convenient and easy for clients.?

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