Project Report
| Feb 14, 2020
Choose To Make A Difference
![iLEAD Fellow; Ezekiel]()
iLEAD Fellow; Ezekiel
Ezekiel was one of the 71 students in Akwa Ibom State we met through the iLEAD. He had his first workplace experience when he interned at Sterling bank for 2 weeks as a motivation to raise our students' career aspirations, and in this time, he learnt a lot on the essence of savings, investments, financial record keeping and budgeting.
Upon resumption to school, Ezekiel observed that he had a number of junior students coming to him asking for money to purchase exercise books for the test. He saw an opportunity to bring in the learning from iLEAD to help his colleagues. He sensitized them on the essence of savings and went an extra mile to start up a cooperative where he encouraged his colleagues to save any amount daily or weekly. Under a month, Ezekiel had 30 students subscribed to the cooperative, with savings as low as N10 (Naira) daily.
In order to have a transparent system, he opened an account with a microfinance bank opposite his school, kept a record of students' savings, and was accountable to the iLEAD Fellow (Corps member) assigned to his school. Right now, students on his project have been able to withdraw money successfully to purchase most of their school needs like exercise books, drawing books, and especially this period of examinations, many have purchased full scalp sheets for exams without having to beg.
Ezekiel's story is one out of the many stories of this programme which has inspired beneficiaries to lead and champion several initiatives.
And we want to do more!
We want to reach more students in other communities in Nigeria because we believe there are many Ezekiels who need the skills and knowledge the iLEAD offers.
Give today to LEAP Africa to push our work farther.
Thank you!
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