In its bid to propel indigent students to academic success, the sholape Animashawun Foundation is set to award scholarship opportunity to scores of varsity students.
Organized in partnership with the Care People Foundation, the scholarship award ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday at the Technical University, Ibadan.
In a telephone interview with Eko Hot Blog, Alhaji Semiu Animashawun, a Canadian based businessman and the founder, sholape Animashawun Foundation gave an insight into how the NGO was established, the motive, it’s activities and future plans
What’s the motivation behind Sholape Animashawun Foundation
“Sholape Animashawun Foundation was founded in 2010 in memory of my late wife, Rasheedat Sholape Animashawun. We started by giving out scholarship awards to students with sickle cell and other similar health challenges in Canada.
In the year 2020 however, we thought it necessary to come back home to give back to those in need in Nigeria especially indigent students in tertiary institutions across the country”
We registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and teamed up with The Care People Foundation owned by Pastor Lese Kese for wider coverage of our activities in Nigeria”
“We’re also in the process of registering with the Lagos State Government.
The foundation has been awarding scholarships of N100,000 to students to foot their academic bill since we came back to Nigeria.”
How many students have benefited so far and what’s your target for this year’s edition?
“Five students were awarded scholarships in 2021 and same for 2022. However, we observed that over 2,000 students applied for the scholarship last year out of which five made the final cut.
Having that in mind, we’ve worked to expand our beneficiary net to accommodate more students. Twenty students have been shortlisted to benefit this year”
How do you ensure that the money is being used for the intended purpose?
“We worked with the various school managements where beneficiaries are drawn from. It’s part of the rules guiding the scholarship. We pay directly to the school. Students can get whatever is left after school fee has been deducted to use for their upkeep”
Does the Foundation have any sponsor apart from yourself?
“When we established this foundation, it was solely self funded. I had no intention to seek sponsorship from any individual or group. However, as our activities progress over the years, we’ve had a number of people donating to help the less privileged.
“Some of them want to remain anonymous so we just ask them what they want us to do with their donations. A number of my friends have been donating and are still supporting us for the scholarship award this year”
What are the other areas of focus of the foundation?
“Apart from the scholarship, we are also involved in a other charity works. We have visited Badagry General Hospital to donate wheelchairs and some other medical equipments. We have also visited Nigeria correctional services and paid fines to secure release of minor offenders.”
“Similarly, we do support individuals with their businesses. Sometimes you see someone Hawking on the street and the total value of their ware is not be more than one thousand Naira. We do support people like that with finances to be more established
Likewise, we have built mosque in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State where my wife hails from.”
What is your future plan for the NGO?
“We plan to collaborate more with like-minded Organisations in our Programmes. We have secured some plots of land from Lagos State Government which is being developed into a farm. We want to have an arrangement where people can be put through various training so they can take up vocational jobs.
Additionally, we want to be able to sponsor students for academic pursuit abroad by linking them with available scholarship opportunities. We’re already in contact with a US based NGO, Zeribe Nwosu Foundation in this regard.”
Does the foundation have a physical office and online presence?
Yes, we do have an office in Ikeja located at HEDA RESOURCE CENTRE,15A, Yinusa Adeniji Street, Off Toyin Street, Ikeja. We also have a website: https://sholapefoundation.com/
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