For Lilian Onwuatudo, a graduate of Pure and Industrial Chemistry from the Nnamdi Azikwe University, Anambra State, the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps scheme is not just for serving the country and seeking fun. It is also a period to acquire knowledge and skills.
Little wonder, the corps member, who currently teaches at Lagos State Model School, Lekki, has gone the extra mile to learn how to make beads, wirework, Ankara accessories and bags, courtesy of the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development, an NYSC initiative.
"I learnt this at the NYSC camp through SAED. Within two weeks, I learnt how to make bags and accessories. I owe the organisation a lot. It has made me to have a brand and sharpened my entrepreneurial skills. So far, I have hired three persons to work with me and I look forward to expanding the business the moment I am through with the service year," she notes, while recounting her experience to our correspondent.
Onwuatudo, who says she cut her teeth in the business during her industrial training, adds that the experience came the hard way.
She says, "It started in 2011 after I was attacked by robbers. Then, I was undergoing industrial training with a pharmaceutical company in Lagos. I lost everything and I had to borrow N5,000. Then I had an aunty, who made bangles."
Similarly, another corps member, Wuraola Sulaiman, a graduate of Accounting from the Bowen University, Iwo in Osun State, seems to be trying her hand at fashion designing.
"Before now, I used to go to where they sew clothes just to satisfy my curiosity. Although I have always had a flair for fashion, the SAED initiative has made it more fulfilling. Now I am into clothing designs. I make blazers, shirts, trousers, traditional wears and I do make-up."
The feat, nonetheless, did not come without some teething challenges.
She recounts, "I have a strict dad, who wants his children to excel in their education. So, I had to face my studies first. While waiting to be called up for the NYSC scheme after my university education, I secretly enrolled in a three-month programme at a fashion school. But under that condition, I could not fully express myself.
"The first jacket that I made for a client gave me the needed confidence. Her colleagues admired the jacket and started placing orders for their own. Then I was only sewing English-style dresses, but people kept pestering me for traditional attire. Unknown to them, I didn't know how to make it."
Although Sulaiman got a break from the first day she started the business, something was still missing and she found out at the NYSC camp.
"My joy knew no bounds when I heard about the SAED programme during the NYSC orientation programme. Within two months of attending the programme, including the post camp training, I became a master. Today, NYSC has made me a star," she says.
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