By Adedapo Adesanya
Two Nigerian social enterprises, HelpMum and Utiva, have been selected to receive additional funding of $25,000 each from the 2020 Facebook Community Accelerator Programme to grow their communities.
The two Nigerian organisations were among the initial 77 participants selected globally for the Facebook Community Accelerator Programme in July 2020.
When the number was trimmed for the next stage, they were among the 24 participants selected by the Facebook team and ecosystem partner to receive additional funding of $25,000.
They were among the three recipients chosen from Sub-Saharan Africa.
In a blog post, Facebook announced that, “…Today, we also announced the recipients who will be awarded additional funding from each regional demo day, as decided by a panel of judges and the program participants themselves. Communities were evaluated on their execution capabilities, clear vision of next steps, and [the] impact of how they would use the additional funding.”
“These recipients span communities that support a wide range of people and causes, from Girl Gone International, a community empowering and connecting women who live overseas, to HelpMum, a community tackling maternal and infant mortality in remote areas of Nigeria.
“Each recipient will receive $25,000 in additional funding,” it added.
The 2020 Facebook Community Accelerator is a six-month program to equip impactful communities with the skills and funding to grow, concluded this month with virtual demo days occurring across six regions.
The virtual showcases gave each of the 77 participants a chance to share their progress and celebrate their milestones over the past six months.
The programme also provided a forum for investors, advisors, and community advocates to engage with some of their region’s most impactful communities.
HelpMum is a social enterprise birthed with the mission to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria. The organisation’s mission is to eradicate infant and maternal mortality in Nigeria through the distribution of affordable Clean Birth kits to pregnant women in deprived and underserved communities, registration of mothers on our vaccination tracking system, training of community birth attendants using our E-learning platform, and complete renovation of the highly unhygienic and deteriorated state of community birth attendant homes.
Utiva is the leading tech education company in Sub-Saharan Africa that helps people learn premium technology skills virtually and help companies hire the best talents.
Since 2017, Utiva has helped professionals from over 300 companies in Africa learn skills and develop capabilities to thrive in their workplaces and also stay relevant for the Future of Work.
Aduragbemi Omiyale