Dr Antonia Ashiedu, Hon. Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation of the Delta State, Nigeria, and an LSE Executive Summer School graduate, is to manage and administer two billion Naira (over Seven Million Pounds) awarded to Delta State Government, by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the continued sustainability of a Micro-Credit Scheme aimed at helping both the rural and urban poor. Implementation of the Fund will start in November, 2014, with the first tranche of £1,773,049 (N500,000, Million Naira).
Dr Ashiedu (pictured right on a monitoring visit at a Local Micro Entrepreneurs Market) developed a business plan which assisted in winning Delta State the funding while she was a student of the LSE Business Model Innovation course run by the Executive Summer School| at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
The two billion Naira will be used to further develop the Delta State Micro-Credit Programme, which is led by Antonia Ashiedu and has, to date, helped over 111,312 people (67,861 Females and 43,451 Males). The programme seeks to empower the rural and urban poor by providing access to sustainable Credit through working with Microfinance Banks, Local communities, Trade Groups and Faith Based Organisations.
Dr Antonia Ashiedu said: “The LSE Executive Summer School’s Business Innovation Programme is outstanding. I found the Program very invigorating and it served as one of the catalysts for the pitching of the Fund for the new Window of the Delta State Micro Credit Program. I am delighted that Delta State has been awarded this loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The new funding will enable the programme to continue its good work, which has already benefitted many by enabling the more economically weak and disadvantaged parts of the population to access affordable Credit.”
A Parliamentary Bill signed by the Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan on Monday 20th October, 2014 has now made Dr Ashiedu’s Office a new Agency called Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Agency with powers and a strong legal framework to further advance the successes of the Programme.
Professor Harry Barkema, who led LSE’s Executive Summer School Business Model Innovation Course, said: “Antonia came to LSE with a clear aim about what she wanted to achieve and it has been a pleasure to see her plans take shape during her time at LSE.”
LSE’s Executive Summer School has been offering short Executive Education Courses to CEOs and Global Executives who are dealing with emerging new challenges in business since 2009. Its courses cover a range of disciplines, including Economics, Finance, Accounting, Global Public Policy and Management. In 2015, the programme includes three new courses: Leadership in Financial Institutions; Designing Strategy for Competitive Advantage; and, Managing Modern Media.
Applications for next year’s Executive Summer School, which will run over two weeks from 22 June to 3 July 2015, are now open. More details on all courses being offered can be found at www.lse.ac.uk/ess|
To learn more about the Nigerian Delta State Micro-credit programme go to http://www.deltastate.com.ng/Projects/mcs.html|
Ends
For more information, please contact Cleo Bowen, Programme Manager, c.bowen@lse.ac.uk|, 0207 955 6804.
Notes for editors:
The Nigerian Delta State Micro-credit Programme
Delta State Micro-Credit Programme (DMCP) is packaged to be a viable strategy for poverty alleviation. The key element of this strategy for poverty alleviation is to facilitate access of the economically weak and disadvantaged segments of the population to productive assets and services through a sustainable credit facility.
Delta State Micro-Credit Programme (DMCP) therefore focuses on the interests of the people, with regards to their needs and also justification for the existence of such needs. DMCP is thus, a poverty alleviation programme designed to benefit the economically weak and has been carefully tailored to their needs. DMCP is not a Charity or a Safety Net.
Since being transformed into the Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Agency by a recent Parliamentary Bill, Dr Antonia Ashiedu has been appointed as its pioneer Executive Secretary.
LSE Executive Summer School
The programme is comprised of three and five day intensive executive education courses which are targeted at global executives. In 2014, a total of 87 per cent of its participants were from outside of the UK, including 10 per cent from African countries. The diversity of the short courses offered directly reflects the LSE’s core subject areas and internationally renowned research expertise. Executive Summer School faculty are all highly regarded academics at the LSE, and the executive short courses they teach are devised from the Schools full-time degree programmes.A total of sixteen different courses will be offered across two summer sessions in 2015.
Professor Harry Barkema’s executive short course, Developing Business Models for a Sustainable World, (formerly known as the Business Model Innovation course) will run from 22 June – 26 June 2015. The course is designed for senior global executives from the public and private sectors who are seeking to develop new sustainable business models. The focus of these five intensive days is to design a complete business model that is inspired by critical academic thinking and that can be implemented in the real world.
5 November 2014