As parts of its Corporate Social Responsibilities, (CSR) a hospitality firm based in Akure, and Ondo township; Bolakomo Ventures has trained 26 youths in different vocations in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Aside the training which lasted six months, the firm donated working tools worth millions of Naira to the trainees who were drawn from different parts of the state. The 26 graduants are part of the 120 people that showed interest in the apprenticeship,
Bolakomo Ventures is a hub for all hospitality facilities ranging from Hotel accommodation, car mart and hire, eatery, hair dressing training school, fashion school, Bar and Life club.
Some of the items donated by the firm to the graduates of the fashion school included sewing machines, and hair dressing kits.
The founder of the firm, Prince Adekunle Adeya said the company has been a consistent advocate of poverty alleviation in the country. He said he is a believer in job creation and that government alone cannot provide jobs for teeming youths in the country.
He said he would always support the efforts of government at all levels in jobs creation and take the youths off the streets.
According to him, he developed this passion for philanthropy due to his humble background, and the humanitarian activities of the Catholic Church which serves as a source of inspiration to him.
Adeya said Bolakomo ventures opened for business in April 2019 and barely three months into the operations, commenced the process of giving back to the society.
He said the free training in both the fashion and hairdressing schools is complemented with the distribution of free equipment and working tools to the beneficiaries.
The first batch of training and empowerment programme, he said took place early 2020. However, it was halted because, of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Despite halting the free training, early last year, Adeya and his wife, Olubola Akomolafe gave out food items to thousands of poor people across the State during the height of the lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adeya commended the graduants for their doggedness, and encouraged them to be a shining light to others.
The wife of the founder ,Princess Olubola Akomolafe, and other dignitaries at the event admonished the beneficiaries to embrace the spirit of giving to others who would need their support in the future.
Princess Olubola Akomolafe congratulated the graduants for their courage and doggedness during the training. She admonished them to be good ambassadors of their instructors as they go on in life.
While speaking with newsmen, Princess Adeya thanked her husband the chairman of the company.
She said the gesture is their own way of giving back to the society saying it is not for a political reason!
Some of the graduants who spoke with reporters said they were filled with joy because they were counted worthy of the kind gesture of the firm.
One of the graduants, Mrs Funke Jegede , said the training programme formed a milestone in her life. She said the sewing machines were procured by the management without asking the apprentices for a dime. She pledged to impact others positively.
Also, Mr Oluwafemi Taiwo, a senior secondary school student, who participated in the training and now a qualified fashion designer said he would remain eternally grateful to the firm for giving him life skill.
Similarly, Miss Abioye Precious thanked the management of the company for bringing up such opportunity for young people and other indigent people in the society.
She spoke to reporters about her challenges to further her education after leaving secondary school, because there was no funds.
According to her the news about the opportunity of free training and empowerment got to her at the nick of time and she jumped at it without hesitation.
