Recently listed alongside Aliko Dangote and others as one of the “50 Movers and Shakers in Africa” by Switzerland-based company, Credit Suisse, Linda Ikeji is a 34-year old Nigerian entertainment and gossip celebrity blogger that has built a formidable new media platform that’s a household name, generates more page views than traditional media powerhouses, and leads as the second most visited indigenous website in Nigeria with almost 30 million page views monthly.

Earlier this year, the popular Nigerian blogger announced on her blog that she plans to set aside N10million as grant to help young women with dreams, ambition, and great business ideas to start their own small-scale businesses. Tagged I’d Rather Be Self-Made, the aim is to empower and mentor young girls with dreams and aspirations to be self-reliant.

The blogger announced the first set of beneficiaries of the initiative today, saying N5 million naira has been shared amongst 15 ladies.

Speaking on the modalities of the project, Linda Ikeji said, “I met with over 800 ladies in January this year, I got a panel to look at their proposals, we asked about 50 of them to present their ideas to us and then we shortlisted to 15 girls.”

With the project, two ladies get over N600k each, another two get over N500k each, a separate group of two get over N400k, others get over N300k and N200k. Only one beneficiary gets N150k.

According to her blogpost, Linda plans to run the I’d Rather Be Self-Made grant for as long as she can.

“I plan to do this for as long as I can. Once this N10million is exhausted, I will bring out more money,” she wrote.

Linda also disclosed that she’d inject an additional N1 million into the two most successful startups whose founders demonstrate dedication and extreme seriousness, after observing their growth for a year.  The ex-model and University of Lagos graduate who had witnessed the desperate and dangerous lifestyle of young ladies in quest of financial independence explained that she launched the seed-grant program to empower cash-trapped young women. 

“It’s quite unfortunate and sad… Now that I can afford to help a few girls, I am willing to help with my money. I really, really want more women to succeed, to be more independent, to make their own money, and to stop sleeping with men for money and I will do everything I can to help as many ladies as I can,”  she wrote.

With another N5 million naira to be shared before the end of the year, ladies with viable business ideas are advised to be on the look out as announcements will be made in the coming weeks concerning subsequent editions.

Enterprise54 has reached out to Linda for comments on the project.

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