LIFE Continental Lager Beer, a beverage brand from the stables of Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB), has raised N30 million for the empowerment of 100 artisans and small businesses in the southeast of Nigeria.
The Portfolio Manager in-charge of Mainstream Lager and Stout of NB, Emma Agu said that the N30 million was raised as part of ‘Life Progress Booster 2018’, an empowerment scheme launched on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, in Enugu.
Those benefiting from the empowerment scheme
The Life Progress Booster 2018 is targeted mainly at the indigenes southeastern Nigeria.
The programme will operate in a way that each of the 100 artisans and small businesses selected would get N300,000 each in the empowerment package to boost their ventures.
The empowerment program will cover seven states which include the five South-East States of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States, which are predominantly Igbo indigenous states. The others are Rivers and Delta states.
How to be part of the empowerment scheme
While speaking at the launch of the scheme, Agu encouraged progressive and aspiring artisans and small/growing business to apply by writing a simple business proposal on how to expand their existing businesses, services, and ventures.
According to Agu, any aspirant of the scheme should drop his or her proposal with any NB’s major catchment places, especially drinking joints and other specified places in NB’s posters and handbills.
A panel of three business and venture judges will look into the proposal and find out how suitable and practical submitted proposals are.
The panel will later visit the shops or business places of those that submitted proposals in order to verify and ask the applicant questions directly.
NB had recently released its H1 2018 financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2018.
The company reported a slight decrease in revenue of ₦95.2 billion for the period ended June 2018 compared to ₦95.4 billion reported for the period ended June 2017.
Profit before tax was ₦12.30 billion for the period ended June 2018, a 26% decrease compared to a profit of ₦16.62 billion reported for the period ended June 2017.
The company’s profit after tax for the half year ended 30th June 2018 was ₦8.23 billion, a 33% decrease compared to a profit of ₦12.32 billion recorded in H1 2017.
NB’s stock traded at N100 during trade session on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
