This heartwarming initiative was held at the NUJ Hall, Iwe-Iroyin, Oke-Ilewo Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
During the event, Bola Solate, the convener of the symposium and CEO of M19 Events, eloquently emphasized the vital role played by Events Vendors within society.
She also shed light on the altruistic motives that underpinned their benevolent gesture to the community.
According to her “As event vendors, we see first hand what it means for people not to have enough. We manage people’s emotions at all times. At our catering stands, we understood what it means to be in need!
“we have decided to contribute our little quota by engaging the widows in the society and lending helping hands from our pockets.
“We have seen the efforts of the government, and we felt it’s imperative to do the little we could to support the efforts of the Prince Dapo Abiodun led government!
Expressing concern over the escalating costs of essential commodities used in their services, Solate earnestly called upon the government to address the challenges surrounding the import and export of the instruments vital to their service delivery.
She emphasized the critical need for empowering entrepreneurs, ultimately leading to more affordable services for their client.
she stressed the importance of establishing a specialized loan platform tailored to cater to the unique needs of events vendors, citing the inadequacy of existing options in accommodating their specific requirements.
She said “If we are be able to ask questions by the government, we will tell them about our challenges because some our challenges is the importation and exportation of the things we use in events industry.
" If they can empower entrepreneurs in Nigeria to make sure they have enough to produce what we use in events industry, that will reduce the rate of money we pump in to the business and help us to reduce rate at which we charge our clients.
"If the things continue to increase everyday, in that way we actually have to increase our charges, and some clients cannot afford to pay us, so it reduces number of events that we have in Nigeria.
“We also need fund, we will like if they can set aside a fund not only for women in business but they should also set the fund aside for may be a particular trade. When we reach out to platform that can give us loan, they don’t usually have a place that can fit in to events hub and we also need money to run what we do. "
In his remarks, Enoch Adeniyi, the CEO of DAT Events, shared his perspective on the adverse consequences of the Federal government's decision to remove fuel subsidies, particularly on their industry.
He mentioned that the removal of fuel subsidies has had an impact on vendors, as it has forced people to organize their events on tighter budgets, saying that it has also led to increase of price for their services.
"fuel subsidy removal also affected us because people are now doing their Event with a very slim budget. It also affected the prices of our services but we are trying in our own way to bear some of the the loses rather than increase the price just to ensure that people can still afford it."
Other events vendors present at the event are MC Factorial, the CEO Factorial Events; Olabode Ruth the CEO 13th October Events; Sofoyeke Jerry, th CEO Decordocc Events; Ifeloluwa Oladapo, the CEO. O&I Events; Ifesanya Bamidele, the CEO HRF Events; MC ROE KOS, the CEO Jolley Events; Stephen Damilase CEO Choplife Ogun; Bolanle Akande, member M19 Events Team and Samuel Adeleye, member M19 Events Team.
