A single mother of four, and the Chief Executive Officer of Maxima Systems and Services Limited, Adebisi Kuforiji, is set to train single mothers on finance, emotional health and how to overcome the struggles of parenting and other issues.
Kuforiji disclosed this when she hosted a programme themed “Project 59” to empower 59 single mothers on her 59th birthday on Thursday, August 24 in Ikeja, Lagos.
Project 59 aims at empowering single mothers with varied knowledge on finance, physical and emotional health, spiritual motivation, building better relationships, overcoming the struggles of single parenting, legal rights, child welfare, safety, and excelling in both parenting and creative pursuits.
Speaking with The PUNCH at the event, Kuforiji, said that “the first reason for hosting this event is because I’m a single mum, I’ve been there, and I know what they go through. I’m strong but it’s not all single mothers out there that are strong. So, I can be a mentor to them.
“The other part is that my reason for being is to impact lives. There’s no money that I have that I would feel satisfied with if I didn’t spend it on someone else, so I feel fulfilled using my money to empower others. Some people told me to wait till I turned 60 but I told myself that I had to start now. Tomorrow is not promised.
“The criteria used in selecting the 59 women in this cohort were that they must be single mothers, they must be internet and WhatsApp savvy, and they must be residents in Lagos, although we had some of them come from Ibadan, Kwara, and some other states,’’ Kuforiji added.
Going further to talk about the goal of the project, Kuforiji stated that “through this event and subsequent ones that would be done annually, I hope to empower more and more single mothers, to alleviate their struggles and give them a platform to thrive. We gave out seed funds for them to use to start up little businesses, and for those who will make good use of this opportunity and not squander the privilege, it would be a good ride for them.
“So the idea is that when I clock 60, there’ll be ‘Project 60’ to empower a new cohort of women and it would be continued annually in that order, till I’m 70, 80, 90, 96. Then my children would take over after my death to continue to empower women.’’
“There’s a vibrant WhatsApp group where we hold interactive sessions with the attendees, it is also a group for them to connect and be of support to each other. Those who live close to each other also have retreats. So the participants of this year’s celebration will be in a cohort to ensure that they stay together and support each other, future participants will be in separate cohorts according to the year of their participation.”
She added that there are mentorship opportunities and physical need resources that have been provided for the attendees through the support of about 40 individuals who sponsored the event for each of the 59 participants.
The eight guest speakers at the event out of whom Kuforiji claimed that six were also single mothers were Dr. Ronnee Adesanya, Dr. Yetunde Fasakin, Esther Addo-Eyetan, Kolade Modupe, Dominga Odebunmi, Dr. Abimbola Abolarinwa, Princess Olaoti Shodiya, and Bim Ewetade.
One of the speakers, Olaoti Shodiya-Ade, speaking to the single mothers said “You don’t live for the society, you live for yourself and your creator. Find expression for what you love and do it instead of pity-partying because you’re a single mum.”
Another speaker, Abimbola Abolarinwa, speaking with our correspondent, stated that single mothers have to do the job of two people. They might have help from around but the main responsibility lies on them. So they need to know who they are, and what their goals and ambitions are and do not need to live with bitterness but are to ensure that their children’s lives do not fall in line with what they have gone through.
“Everybody tends to make single mothers fall into their categorisation of what they think they should be, they give them names like baby mama, irresponsible women. They are stigmatised in church but they have a plan for widows and married women but most churches have no plan for single mothers. Hence, single mothers need to know themselves beyond the societal tags and not fashion themselves to the tags that people call them. There’s a much more to them than what the society thinks about them,” she added.
A participant, Mary Agbe-Davies, said “I see it as an opportunity to empower myself. My mind has been open to different aspects of single motherhood and how I can further make my life better. Before coming here, we had a WhatsApp group where Mrs Adebisi registered us all under Longrich without even knowing us or seeing us and we started earning even before knowing what the group was about.
“Then later she gave us more enlightenment, numbers, and codes. The project is to empower us financially, and emotionally, educate us on how to take care of our kids and a lot of other things.”
