The Double A Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by popular radio broadcaster Abiodun Adewole, popularly known as Double A, on Friday held the 5th edition of its Annual Empowerment Programme, supporting 20 small business owners with ₦50,000 each to boost their livelihoods.
The event, which took place at the White House, Molete, Ibadan, brought together community members and beneficiaries to celebrate another milestone in the foundation’s drive toward social justice, empowerment, and human development.
Speaking during the event, Abiodun Adewole, who anchors the popular ‘Aditu’ programme on Ilaji FM 91.9 and also serves as the chairman of the foundation, said the empowerment initiative was born out of his passion to give back to society and uplift the less privileged.
“The vision behind this foundation is to impact the society, especially the less privileged. Through Aditu on radio, we pursue social justice and advocate for people’s rights. But beyond journalism, we also realized that people need practical support to survive, that’s why we established the humanitarian arm,” Adewole explained.
According to him, the empowerment programme, which began five years ago, initially supported 10 beneficiaries annually with a total of ₦500,000. However, this year’s edition is 20, raising the empowerment fund to ₦1 million.
“For the past four years, we’ve been empowering 10 people each year, last year was 15 people. But this time, we decided to go bigger, 20 people, ₦50,000 each. Our sponsor, who prefers to remain anonymous but whom I fondly call Baba Oloore Minnesota from the US, has been the one funding this initiative annually. He sends logistics support every year. We truly appreciate him for his continuous generosity,” Adewole said.
Ensuring Accountability and Sustainability, Adewole noted that the foundation adopted a transparent and accountable system to ensure the money is used productively and not mismanaged by beneficiaries.
“We conducted interview sessions to screen applicants, and through that process, two people were disqualified for not meeting our criteria. Each selected beneficiary was asked to open a dedicated bank account for saving and monitoring purposes,” he stated.
He further explained that beneficiaries were encouraged to set flexible repayment or savings targets, not as refunds to the foundation, but as a commitment to building financial discipline and reinvestment.
“We told them we won’t collect the money back from them. However, they should deposit small amounts weekly or monthly, according to their business plans, and send credit alerts to our contact person. After about ten weeks, they’ll come back to show us how much they’ve saved, and we’ll help them reinvest the money into their businesses. It’s a way to help them grow sustainably,” he added.
Mr. Double A also expressed his profound gratitude to the empowerment committee for their selfless sacrifices and pray God almighty replenish the sponsor abundantly and everyone involved.
Fatima Yusuf, one of the beneficiaries, expressed deep gratitude to the foundation for its consistent impact.
“I am very happy and grateful to the Double A Foundation. This ₦50,000 may look small to some people, but to me, it means everything. I plan to use it to buy materials and expand my small tailoring business. I pray that God continues to bless Double A and the sponsors who made this possible,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Rashidat Abdulateef, described the support as “timely and life-changing.”
“I have been struggling to grow my Nylon business, especially with the rising cost of goods. This empowerment will help me buy more stock and attract more customers. I thank Mr. Abiodun Adewole and the sponsor for remembering people like us every year,” she said .
