BY MIKE OCHONMA
Birch & Lily company is partnering with Kingsley Ishiguzo, an operational manager in the corporate world to encourage and lift local businesses who started their business from the streets. The strategic collapse is aimed at helping businesses achieve operational excellence and also contribute to grassroots development.
This initiative between the duo is in line to encourage small businesses that started in slums and local communities to join and partake in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as it should not be limited to only large organisations.
Kingsley Ishiguzo said during at an event that running a successful business in Nigeria is hard, talk less of starting a business. He pointed out that the country need to encourage these kids through education and success stories of successful businesses so that they can achieve anything they want to, and also build a successful business in the future through sound education and knowledge. “This is the reason I jumped on this opportunity when Adekunle who is the CEO of Birch and Lily reached out to me”.
According to Adeyemi Adeniran, manager of Birch & Lily, top organisations do a lot of what the partnership is doing now but then, small businesses also need to invest a lot in CSR. We are nothing without our local communities.
Adeyemi Adeniran who has experienced what it is to start a business in local communities said “It’s not an easy task to start a business where the environment is not friendly and everyone wants to take advantage of the business at its early stages. Kingsley has an eye for helping people, hence, it was not difficult convincing him to join this initiative”.
Having gone through the journey of life and come out successful, Kingsley has returned to his roots to ensure children do not experience the same challenges as he did, or at least, they are provided with more resources to aid their ambition. This is also to encourage small businesses that are in the local community to play a role in CSR.
The school outreach event took place at City Top schools, Great rock and Lamar schools, Egbeda, Lagos where books were shared with students. During the outreach, students were encouraged to continue being studious as they can achieve anything they put their mind to.
The principal of Great Rocks school, Samson added “They’re grateful for this good thing visiting their school and it helps relieve stress and responsibilities on parents”.
Looking at the objectives and impact of CSR, David Nwosu, a corporate business owner of Kichob Global in Lagos said “The community contributes to the growth and success of every business, if you don’t look out for the community and the people who live in it then the negative impact of the community would kill your business”.
The company official further stated that to see a Nigeria that moves forward and represents our dreams, the country need to empower and help the kids dream. Show them workings and results achieved”.
Kingsley Ishiguzo reiterated his wish to partner with small businesses and continue the event every quarter.
