An Interview with Benedicta C. Apuamah; 2020 Nigerian Young Changemaker Awardee

 

Chinechendo's blog: Good day dear Benedicta, welcome to Chinechendo's blog, hope we meet you well. We will like to know few things about your NGO-Girls for Development Goals Foundation and Cofounder of Benny & Freddy Limited. We will be glad if you give us the consent to go on with our interview.

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: Good day, all is well, you can go on with the interview.

Chinechendo's blog: Ok, thanks

Chinechendo's blog: Dear Benedicta, what inspired your decision to set up your NGO?

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: I was privileged to attend an all-girls boarding school in Warri, Delta State and on my return home (Obiaruku), I realized that some of my classmates/schoolmates were not the same. It's either they're pregnant and dropped out of school or just constituting a nuisance in the community. I became concerned, angry as well.

I began thinking about it, I believed that the counseling and guidance I was getting in school was helping me make the right decision so after I finished from the University, I decided to do something about it.

I remember I would take courses on the YALI Network platform online and then go to Secondary Schools to share with them what I had learned and the need to "dream big". So that's how I started. I didn't even know the meaning of NGO then, I didn't know what I was doing was " NGO", I just wanted a change in my community, I wanted young people to have something to look forward to. Something to spur them to do better.

 

Chinechendo's blog: Can I meet you

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: I am Benedicta Chukwuyem Apuamah (Uweru), a Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree Holder from Delta State University. I am the founder, Girls for Development Goals Foundation and Cofounder of Benny & Freddy Limited.

I have partaken of over 6 social-impact programs representing Nigeria in West & East Africa, Europe and South-America. These programs range from Chairing Model UN Conferences to High-level meetings.

I have a dream of working with the United Nations in the near future. I am ambitious obviously,  hardworking and friendly, I believe in building networks.

Chinechendo's blog: I hope it's not for the monetary gains?

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: I started out of sheer passion to make an impact without even knowing the financial implications.  Now I know that bills have to be paid for more impact to be done. Volunteers need to be motivated and even staffs need to be paid. This is not for the monetary gains but of course we need money to get things done.

 

Chinechendo's blog: How long have you been into it

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: I started in 2016, December to be precise just after I graduated from the School of Pharmacy, we operated with the name "Girls Health and EducationFoundation . But we got registered with CAC in December 2019 as Girls for Development Goals Foundation.

 

Chinechendo's blog: Who are your Target audience

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: My target audience is teenage girls, youths especially young women

 

Chinechendo's blog: Any challenges so far?

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: Yes there have been challenges. Part of the problem is because there are so many people who are siphoning money with the guise of running an NGO hence making it difficult sometimes for honest and passionate founders like myself to work. People were afraid to give/partner because of their past experience so my team and I had to work extra hard to prove our authenticity.

 

Chinechendo's blog: Who is behind the funding

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: We have not received any grants till date. We initially started with our savings and finances, support from concerned individuals, family, and friends. Now we get support from individuals from time to time who have seen the track record of our work and impact and we believe this would improve with time.

 

Chinechendo's blog: What is your plan for the project

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: Our plan is to grow our projects to the point that they can be run and coordinated well in my absence. We have already begun but there's still work to be done.

Currently, we have our Bloody Cup Campaign and Survey Project running in 6 States in Nigeria with 6 Community Based Organizations as implementing partners. These 6 States are representatives of the 6 geopolitical zones; Delta, Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Kebbi and Adamawa.

The Bloody Cup Campaign/ Survey is in partnership with OrganiCup Menstrual Cups which is a modern period product. So we're distributing these cups to young women and then we follow them up to see if this is something they would like to use on the long run. The outcome so far has been encouraging, we shall be analyzing the survey questions soon and we shall definitely share our findings with you all.

 

Chinechendo's blog: Your plan for the future?

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: I already shared some of these in the previous question. We want to grow to be independent, run projects, work with local and external donors. We are also working on our startup company, Benny & Freddy Limited where as we stabilize, a percentage of our income will go into the running of our NGO's project. So we're doing a lot underground and really soon, you'd be hearing from us.

Chinechendo's blog: Any regrets so far?

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: None none at all. We are grateful for the mistakes we've made a long the way, we have learned from them and they have helped us become better and stronger today.

 

Chinechendo's blog: Your advice?

Benedicta Uweru Apuamah: When you have a dream, chase it hard, this is like my own mantra. It's okay to get tired and walk away but after a while comeback, wipe the tears and hurt and continue working and before you know it, you'd have the attention of your world... You can do it! For the teenage girls and even boys, your education is the best thing you can give to yourself at this stage of your life. Take it seriously, embed yourself in it, get the best out of it and then build on it.

Chinechendo's blog: Thanks for your time with us, do have a nice day.