Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State on Wednesday outlined for a United Nations audience in Seville, Spain, how his administration is driving sustainable development in the state through two homegrown initiatives designed to promote economic prosperity from the bottom up.
Speaking at a high-level roundtable organized by the UN Global Compact, Governor Uzodimma explained that through the Skill-Up Imo programme and the OKOBI business model, the state is actively working to bridge the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He detailed how the OKOBI (One Kindred, One Business) model, which encourages community groups to establish and co-own businesses with government support, is flourishing and creating thousands of new entrepreneurs. He noted that with a conducive environment established through significant investments in infrastructure like roads and power, these new enterprises are becoming self-sufficient.
The Governor explained that his administration created these initiatives to tackle high unemployment, recognizing that short-term palliatives cannot create lasting prosperity. “The OKOBI structure is quite fascinating. Kindreds organise themselves into cooperative units. With technical support from my government, they identify a viable business, and we help them with planning and connecting them to seed funding,” Governor Uzodimma stated.
He announced that since the model’s inception, more than 350 businesses with over 7,000 members have been created.
Inviting global partners to invest in these enterprises, Governor Uzodimma described the model as a “paradigm shift in risk management,” noting that it “ensures community co-ownership, thus creating powerful social collateral”.
The Governor also highlighted the success of the Skill-Up Imo programme, the state’s digital economy initiative, which has already trained over 40,000 youths.
He noted that upon acquiring in-demand digital skills, many graduates are now engaged by multinational companies, while others work as international freelancers from their homes in Imo.
He reaffirmed his commitment to train an estimated 300,000 youths before the end of his tenure, providing them with a clear path to escape unemployment.
The Governor connected these human capital programmes to the foundation of physical infrastructure his administration has built over the last five years, including over 150 durable roads and revitalized health and education sectors.
He concluded by pledging his government’s continued dedication to closing the SDG financing gap through the consolidation of these innovative, homegrown economic models.
