Poverty remains a challenge hindering the equitable distribution of wealth in the country and in spite of the best efforts of private individuals (the government seems not to care either way) there’s little or no progress.

According to the World Bank, over eighty million Nigerians currently live below the poverty line and it has been predicted by the institution that Nigeria will soon become the poverty capital of the world going by the continuous increase in its population. Government within its capacity has done what it termed its “best” to address the trend with minimal results. Thankfully, other groups and individuals are making attempts to address this menace in the country and that’s exactly what Iranwo Foundation, a Makoko-based Non-profit organisation is doing at the moment.

The foundation established in 2016 by Oni Oluwafunmilayo has carved a niche for itself by creating equal economic opportunities for women and providing access to quality education for disadvantaged children in urban slums.

The Iranwo foundation has chosen two significant approaches to its operations, the formal and the non-formal. Its formal approach is through education which comes in forms of seminars, symposiums and adult literacy classes while the non-formal approach comes through vocational training for women to make them self-sufficient and to make ends meet for themselves.

The vocations have been carefully selected based on the peculiarities of their environment and immediate demands. Apart from this, the foundation over the years has involved itself in outreach to refugee camps in the country to provide succour to Internally Displaced Persons. Since 2016, over 2000 women have benefited from its vocational and educational empowerment programmes.

The foundation through its activities has shown commitment to Goal 1 and Goal 4 of the SDGs which is No Poverty and Quality Education. The strides of the foundation has been recognised by several groups in the country and beyond as its founder, Oni Oluwafunmilayo Ayobami was recently named as one of the top 5 under 25 social innovators by Ideation Hub Africa.