By: Ade Adeleke
….to give N200m interest-free loan to 100 youths in Ondo Kingdom on Saturday
A Development Expert and Humanitarian, Engineer Ayotunde Akinola-Bally, has vowed that his vision of making thousands of youths in Ondo kingdom will be pursued with vigour.
This is just as the IT Guru declared that on his personal level as part of his humanitarian services, N200 million interest-free loan is to be given to 100 youths for entrepreneurial purposes in Ondo Kingdom comprising Ondo West and Ondo East local government areas of Ondo State.
Akinola-Bally, who is also the Managing Director of Olivermead Ltd in the United Kingdom, made the promise on Monday during a media parley in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
The 40yr-old UK trained Businessman and Philanthropist noted that since 60% of Nigerian population are youths, there is a deliberate need to tackle poverty among them, for a better society.
According to him, the loan will be disbursed on Saturday August 28, 2021, saying that a minimum of N100,000 will be given to a beneficiary while a maximum of N200,000 will be given to a benefit.
He added that a group of beneficiaries with similar business plans could be given N1million.
“N20 million will be given to 100 youths over a period of 16 to 20 months. I am a business man and it doesn’t make sense to me giving somebody N20,000 or N50,000. What can you achieve with that?
“But with N100,000 to N200,000 , you can start something. We can also pair people with the same interest of entrepreneural focus and give them N1 million,” he stated.
Akinola-Bally, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Arvo Finance, a fintech aid organisation that gives soft loans to people without collateral, added that he wanted to raise 1,000 successful entrepreneurs in the kingdom.
He explained that beneficiaries, who must be residents in the communities, would bring guarantors that would make good recommendations on them.
The CEO stated that the criteria to benefit from the gesture were good knowledge of a business and readiness to be taught.
“Our target is not graduates . I don’t believe that you need a degree or certificate to be a good business person but what you need to have is good understanding of how a business is run and you must be teachable.
“Once every month, I will be having a session with all the beneficiaries,” he said.
Asked if running for a political position, the Humanitarian replied that he did not belong to any political party but being geared to harness human resources for development of the society.
“I don’t belong to any political party for now. However, I think we should all get involved in political process of the country. So for me, I will get involved in politics, however, I’m not doin all these because of politics.
“I have been a successful business man and politics cannot add to me but even take from me. I have been a regional director of a charity organisation in East Africa. It has been part of me to help people and I’m a solution solver.
“If we (patriotic people with conscience and genuine love for people) don’t get involved in politics,they will keep their affairs in the hands of looters,” Akinola-Bally concluded.
