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LAPO Is My Economic Strength

Victoria Ubebe
In Africa, a sizeable number of women live in poverty and squalor. Inaccessibility to credit for business development is one of the reasons for this circumstance.

But for the timely intervention of LAPO in her business activity, Mrs. Victoria Ubebe would have fallen perfectly into the category of these miserable women, majority of who live in the rural areas.

Mrs. Ubebe first joined the list of the organizations' beneficiaries in 1996, way back at Uromi, a community in Edo state. With her relocation to Gwagwalada, a satellite community in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in 1997, she again rejoined LAPO. She is a bona fide member of Tunganmage 2 LAPO Union in Gwagwalada branch, Northern Nigeria. She has risen to the position of the Union secretary.

Aged 34, this hardworking mother of seven was introduced to LAPO by a lady who works at the General Hospital, Uromi. Coincidentally, Miss Fatima Okosun who was then her credit officer is presently her branch manager in Gwagwalada, Abuja.

Ubebe hails from Ugboha, a town in Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo state. Her economic condition prior to the period of joining LAPO was not so good. She was denied access to education and other life-sustaining skills that could have richly prepared her for future challenges. Her father had three wives and 25 children. She was the sixth child of the family. Her parents did not have the means to give her a sound secondary education.

They had so many children and because of their lean income, decided to give priority attention only to their male children. The practice that existed then in that part of Edo State discouraged sending female children to school. After dropping out of the secondary school, she started accompanying her mother to the local market rather than just wasting away at home. This was all she could get as training for an empowered adult life. Soon after, she fell in love with Mr. Friday Ubebe and later got married to him.

Not comfortable with just sitting idling away at home as a full time housewife and desirous to engage in income-generating activity as a way to complement the income of her husband, she started to brainstorm on what she could possibly do. She later decided to engage in petty trading as a first step.

With the little support from her husband and personal savings, she managed to raise a little amount of N1, 000. With this, she was able to start. Since the money was not enough to rent a shop, she resorted to hawking and sometimes running after moving transport vehicles to sell her goods to passengers. ?It was quite a dangerous task for me, being a married woman,? she says, ?but I had no option but to continue.?

On why she did not approach any formal financial institution for loan, she said it was difficult for her to do that since she did not have the required collateral demanded as a condition. ?Besides, I was scared stiff of the stringent conditions usually associated with such loans. Moreover how would l approach them?? she added.

It was while still thinking and hoping that the news of LAPO reached her through one of her friends. After due enquiries and having been satisfied about the good intentions of the organization, she enrolled as a full member in the year 1996. She later participated in the mandatory 8 weeks pre-loan training, which qualified her for her first loan N5, 000. With this money, she expanded her business and was now able to stock variety of products such as plantain, banana, beans, garri, rice, groundnut oil, bread and others. Her husband who was then transferred to Abuja was amazed on return, over the great progress she was making, even to the point of opening a bank account! She told him of LAPO and how the organization assisted her with money to develop her business. This was the only loan she took from LAPO while yet at Uromi.

At Abuja, Mrs. Ubebe did not abandon her dream to become economically self-sustained through self-employment. She carried out a survey to determine the type of microbusiness that would do well in Sabongeri Quarters, Tunganmaje, the area where they are presently resident. She decided to set up a restaurant where workers could relax themselves. But this was a more capital-intensive business than what she was previously involved in at Uromi. She needed more money to add to what she already had.

With this settled, she started a serious search for fund. She remembered LAPO and searched for the address. With contact re-established with LAPO, she went through the normal pre-loan training and then got registered with Tunganmage II Union. This was how she got started again, getting the sum of N7, 000 as her first stage loan at the new branch. She brought in her refrigerator from Uromi, her formal place of residence and business started in earnest all over again. Mrs. Ubebe said she has benefited from several LAPO loans and has now stabilized her business. ?When I started, I was buying one cartoon of beer a week. Now I am buying and selling about 25 cartoons weekly. I have also bought a generator since there is no regular supply of power in the area,? she says.

Mrs. Ubebe has contributed immensely to the building of their family house in Tunganmage, Abuja. Her husband said, ?She did quite a lot and made financial sacrifices to realize the building project.?

With the support of LAPO' asset loan, she has also bought a new deep freezer and a giant refrigerator. She is also contributing to the educational development of her children. ?I will ensure that all my children are trained up to the university level,? she said. Mrs Ubebe makes an average of N14, 000 as profit monthly and saves N300 daily through Olidara, an itinerant daily savings collector.

It is not only credit facilities that Mrs. Ubebe has benefited from in LAPO. She also received Gender, Environment and Leadership Trainings that have taught her not to discriminate between her male and female children in terms of development and opportunities

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