Unusual Praise Team Targets 100 Businesses for Seed Funding in 2024

Sunday Ehigiator and Esther Oluku

The Unusual Praise Team has announced its intention to provide seed funding to no fewer than 100 Nigerian entrepreneurs in 2024.

According to the organisers, the funding is scheduled to take place during the Unusual Praise events scheduled for November 8, 2024 in Onitsha and December 13, 2024 in Lagos.

The Unusual Entrepreneur Programme, birthed in 2018, aims to alleviate poverty by empowering entrepreneurs.

With 610 entrepreneurs empowered in the last six years, the chairperson, Unusual Praise, Mrs. Theresa Onwuka, explained that while 109 persons were empowered last year, this seventh round of funding will further help to strengthen beneficiaries financially to help them lead more stable lives while serving God and the communities where they operate.

On his part, the Episcopal Vicar of Lekki Region and Parish Priest of the Catholic Church of Divine Mercy (the parish where the Unusual Praise events started), Monsignor Paschal Nwaezeapu, said that the initiative exemplifies the message of Christ and the church which focuses on evangelism.

To this end, the team has called together a small community of friends and well-wishers to raise funds towards sponsoring the project.

Nwaezeapu said: “The fund raising is critical because it is meant to support a very beautiful event, Unusual Praise and unusual Entrepreneur events. If you look at the crucifix, it tells you a lot about what evangelisation is about.

“There is a long part and then a shorter part. The vertical plane is meant to connect people to God, not just to take them to heaven and the horizontal plane focuses on the condition of the individual here on earth.

“So, we are paying attention to how we can better the situation of these individuals on earth. Since the church may not have the amount of money to reach out to the number of people who may need help, we have brought together some of our friends and members in a fundraiser so that with that we can help others and organise the event.”

In her remark, the Chairperson, Unusual Praise Onitsha, Mrs. Augustina Igbokwe, stated that the Unusual Praise team has enjoyed partnerships and sponsorships from donors over the last 15 years inspiring the programme’s resilience through time.

Following the event’s growth from its year of commencement in 2011 as an avenue to thank God each year, Igbokwe stated that the dual pronged mission is aimed towards bringing people to Christ and giving people the opportunity to live more productive lives.

She said: “We have an economic aspect of Unusual Praise, that is the unusual entrepreneur where we give seed funding to businesses, it started in 2018.

“The goal is to win souls for Christ and while we are at it, to bring people out of poverty just like Jesus did. We have people who we call ambassadors who have supported us through the years in aiding the work that we do. “