Mrs Rose Williams( Widow of an army officer from Jos, Plateau state) empowered by WealthyGen.
Ejike Anyaduba
It may be fair to argue that but for little acts of charity the world might have become an uninhabitable place to live. With growing army of poor people and the destitute of living, daily buffeted by unremitting malice of fortune, charity is not just necessary, but imperative in weaving a thread of love around society under threat of dismemberment.
This is Dr. Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku who runs the WealthyGen charity organization.
No doubt, acts of charity have been with man since the beginning of time and the Bible records it as the highest form of love, made manifest in unselfish love of a fellow man. Works of charity, especially of notable organizations and individuals like the Red Cross, CARITAS International, Mother Teresa of Calcutta etc are well documented and the effects they have on debilitating poverty that ordinarily would singe strands of societal cohesion and cause it to fail completely.
Regardless, as commendable as various policies of states, aimed at stemming the scourge of poverty, they are yet to show an uptick on the alleviation curve. The burden of privation still weighs heavily on the very poor whose precarious living condition is not made better by prevalence of war and disease. This has inadvertently put a lot of strain on resources of states and made support from public spirited individuals and private organizations inevitable.
Perhaps not thinking differently WealthyGen, a charity organization, run by Dr. Charity Ezenwa-Onuaku has joined the many aid organizations across the globe to give hope to many an otherwise hopeless poor who are on the wrong side of life. The organization which is barely four years old has touched lives and caused many to achieve financial independence through financial literacy program.
The literacy program ensures that a beneficiary is provided with knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to effectively manage their financial resources, plan ahead and be able to access credit that will help them develop small enterprises. Beneficiaries of this program are mainly women and the youths. The former are thought to be of lower financial standing compared to men, while the latter, bursting with creative energies, are more receptive to new ideas.
Many outstanding beneficiaries of the empowerment program like Mrs. Rose Williams, widow of a late army officer, from Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria, whose husband died in peace-keeping operation in 2016, have a lot of positive remarks to make about WealthyGen. Until 2019 International Day for Widows when she was identified, Mrs. Williams was in dire strait and could not avail herself of basic needs. After sharing the touching story of her privation with WealthyGen on Face Book, she was immediately enrolled for empowerment. Today, she is a poultry farmer with many workers on her employ. Speaking on that she said: “Now I am a cash madam, by His grace. Before, I didn’t have any hope; but now, if they call me and ask, madam what are you doing? … I have a poultry farm - can you come and work for me?”
The story is not told differently of four other beneficiaries namely Mrs. Ukadike from Oko, Mrs. Chinenye Mmaribe from Abagana, Mrs. Stella Igwe from Iyiowa Odekpe and Mrs. Sa’adatu Suleiman Baraya from Layi, Jos. The first three are from Anambra State while the last is from Plateau State. As was wont businesses were opened for the four after undergoing some basic training in financial management and little funds advanced them to shore up family expenses. There are others and today hose businesses were given a shot in the arm and today almost all of them are in bold flourish.
This year alone, over 20 needy people have been selected for various types of empowerment. All these are done without recourse to undue publicity associated with politically motivated charity works.
WealthyGen also offers education and scholarship program which supports access to quality education at different levels, including, but not limited, to general education, vocational education, technical education, and professional education. In partnership with George’s County, Maryland, USA, it has awarded cash scholarship to thirty high school graduating seniors.
For Ezenwa-Onuaku poverty is like a vacant property that blights a beautiful neighborhood. And everything should be done by all men of good will to nip it off. She is aware that states alone can neither mitigate the pains of poverty nor meet the expectations of those whose fortune has taken a tumble for the worse, and whose survival rests squarely on daily toil. She has continued to reach out to poor widows and youths in hope of harnessing the creative energy of the latter.
It can be pointed with justice that in a space of three years, beneficiaries of WealthyGen’s comprehensive program of financial assistance, education, skill acquisition, and enterprise development are legion. What sets the charity organization apart from the rest is that it does not just offer financial assistance to the needy most of the time, it does so after ensuring that potential beneficiaries are properly schooled in the basic elements of financial independence.
Compassionate, but resolute, Ezenwa-Onuaku does all she can to leave her society better than she met it. She deploys a good dose of her financial resources, skills and training to prize open the door that shuts out the poor from the table of decent living.
Though she is loath to stake any claim to greater charity than many, but her WealthyGen has impacted lives hitherto on the skids. With an uncommon wealth building strategy that inculcates a mindset of wealth creation in the audience, she reaches out and improves the lives of the very poor in remote villages in Nigeria and elsewhere.
As a skilled financial consultant and a certified financial education instructor, chartered economist, master financial planner with a doctorate in business administration from Argosy University, Northern Virginia, she came prepared not just to offer financial assistance to the needy, but to put them through the rigours of wealth creation.
What many may find intriguing about WealthyGen is its reach and the decision by its managers not to restrict its charity work to the natal homes of members of the board. For Ezenwa-Onuaku and members of her team, charity did not begin at home this time. Perhaps next time, and from among the twenty being selected for assistance in the second quarter of the year.
Ejike Anyaduba
Abatete