Grooming Centre Launches Photobook on 30 Inspiring Women

Bennett Oghifo

A 132-page photobook, Stories of Impact: Real Women, Real Lives, Real Growth, was launched today, April 28, 2022 at the Grooming Centre Multipurpose Hall, Ejigbo in Lagos.
The photobook highlights and celebrates the resilience, grit, and courage of 30 women and their life-changing journey with the Grooming Centre.
Grooming Centre is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded in 2006 to address the perennial challenge of access to credit at the base of the pyramid.
Since its inception, it has provided 12 million credits and currently empowers 720,000 members by providing financial and non-financial services through a network of 605 branches in 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
A member of the Governing Council of Grooming Centre, and chairperson of the Stories of Impact committee, Ms. Ier Jonathan-Ichaver, said that they were all excited at the launch of the photobook.
She said: “Grooming is impacting well over 700,000 families across Nigeria through its microfinance programme. This is really what NGOs are about. This is what entities like Grooming Centre are about. Starting out from Ejigbo in one small room and growing to what they have become today within 15 years is amazing. But more amazing is the way they have touched the lives of different market women, traders, artisans, small businesses and all kinds with some starting as low as N15,000 in the past.
“We are very excited that getting to hear the stories of just a tiny percentage of these amazing women and their families, their journey, and their grit and their sheer determination to survive in spite of the odds; not just survive but provide for their households and to work within their family businesses, to make sure they cater for and get a better life for their children. So, it’s an amazing thing. We are very excited, and we look forward to telling more of their stories.”
Co-sponsored by Platform Capital, the book launch also included a photo exhibition showcasing the profiled inspiring women, and a tour of the Centre’s new ultra-modern Learning Centre, which is hosting its first major event.
The event featured a review of the book, Stories of Impact: Real Women, Real Lives, Real Growth, by Yale University Fellow and Founder of the School Politics, Policy and Governance, Dr. Oby Ezekwezili.
There was a screening of the Stories of Impact documentary.
Institutional funders and partners, players in the financial inclusion space, academics, and other distinguished guests attended the ceremony.