The Sustainable Education and Enterprise Development (SEED)
has reiterated resolve to improve financial access to the education sector, as it hosted a clinic, reports ITRealms.
ITRealms reports
from the maiden edition of the SEED Access to Finance Clinic recently in Lagos,
founders of SEED, the W-Holistic Business Solutions, revealed this resolve.
According W-Holistic it planned to leverage the network of
723 Affordable Private Schools in the six education districts of Lagos State,
insisted that the aim of SEED Access to Finance is to improve access to finance
for SEED beneficiary schools.
“…And serve as a platform for the schools to understand the
requirements for financing, get further information on various finance options,
and commence the access to finance process(-es) for their preferred option(s),”
the organisers declared.
The theme of the Maiden Edition of the SEED Access to
Finance Clinic was “Financial Inclusion for Affordable Private Schools” with
presentations by the SEED Access to Finance Partners including Lagos State Employment
Trust Fund (LSETF), Sterling Bank, Jessefield Microfinance Bank, Lotus Capital
and FINT. The Maiden Edition of the SEED Access to Finance Clinic had 307
Affordable Private Schools out of its network of 723 Affordable Private Schools
in attendance.
The Maiden Edition of the SEED Access to Finance Clinic also
featured a Keynote Presentation by Nigeria's first licensed credit bureau,
FirstCentral Credit Bureau, represented by the bureau’s Head of Sales and
Marketing, Mr. Olanrewaju Agbede. Other features of the SEED Access to Finance
Clinic included messages from Heads of School Associations, which are SEED
Acquisition Partners, and messages from one of the partners of SEED, Developing
Effective Private Education in Nigeria (DEEPEN). The SEED Access to Finance
Clinic also had a Panel Discussion session, Updates on SEED Project session and
Breakout Sessions which contained Visits to the SEED Access to Finance
Partners’ desks by the SEED Alumni for Contact and Registration on Various
Finance/Loan Products.
According to the CEO of W-Holistic Business Solutions and
Project Director of SEED, Mrs. Olanrewaju Oniyitan, in her Welcome Address, the
SEED Access to Finance Clinic was initiated to bridge the gap between
Affordable Private Schools and Finance.
She reiterated the history of the SEED
Project which was started as a result of the desire and interest to change
current status of education in Nigeria and positively affect the future incomes
and livelihoods of today’s school-aged children through a multipronged business
development support approach which impacts major stakeholders in the school
business sector including school owners, school administrators, teachers,
parents, communities, and most importantly, the school children.
Stressing that
the SEED Alumni in attendance should be open minded towards the opportunities
which the SEED Access to Finance Clinic was going to afford them including the
opportunities to interact with the SEED Access to Finance Partners one-on-one.
She urged the schools to take full advantage of the platform for accessing
funds for aspects of their School Transformation Plans which required external
financing for their schools’ growth and sustainability.
During his message on behalf of one of the SEED Funders,
Developing Effective Private Education in Nigeria (DEEPEN), the National
Program Manager, Dr. Gboyega Ilusanya, stated that there was an essential need
for partnership and support for low-cost private education in Nigeria as these
private educational institutions contribute to provision of services to
children from low-income households.
He opined that despite the increasing
debate across the world on the UKAid’s funding of low-cost private education as
against channeling such funding to the underserved and underfunded government-owned
public education, it remains critical that funding should also focus on
low-cost schools as enabling environment including access to finance should be
provided to them to support their sustainability towards education of children
from economically-disadvantaged households.
Further, he stated that partners
seeking to support low-cost education should focus on ensuring regulations
leading to enabling environment for service providers, access to finance,
school improvement services and access to information for their growth and
continued existence. He added that the approach adopted by SEED for Affordable
Private Schools provided a sustainability platform for low-cost schools while
lauding the SEED Project including the SEED Access to Finance Clinic.
In attendance at the clinic were representatives of school associations including the
President of Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mrs.
Ifejola Dada, and the Chairman of Association of Model Islamic Schools (AMIS),
Lagos State Chapter, Alhaji Misbaudeen Zakariyah, took turns to describe the
SEED Project was a laudable and impact intervention by W-Holistic Business
Solutions towards changing the narrative and landscape of Affordable Private
Education in Nigeria as the SEED Project has been able to address critical
challenges faced by Affordable Private Schools in Nigeria.
Uj. N. Dominic/ED, Ops
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