How STEP made me self-employed - STEPreneur Idogho ~ Truth Reporters

By Gertrude Onyekachukwu-Uteh. 

IDOGHO JOEL hails from Otor-Iyede in Isoko North Local Government Area. He is the CEO of Joel and Sons Limited.  He got enrolled in the Delta State Government’s Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) as an SSCE holder in the 2018/2019 Cycle. 

He was trained in Tiling. Since establishment, he has made tremendous progress and is doing well by all standard. His new skill in Tiling coupled with his previous knowledge in Building Technology made him a highly sought after craftsman in Otor-Iyede and its environs. 

This earned him a wide range of clientele in and out of Delta State, thus improving his income and living condition of his family. His passion and drive for his skills are clear indicators of a future well assured. He has an employee on his payroll and is training 17 persons out of which 10 persons are for free. 

Though he is two years in business, he is building a three flats of two bedroom apartments on a plot of land he acquired. He shares his experience.

“Life was rough for me and my family till I got enrolled in STEP. I was trained for six weeks in Tiling under Brown STEP. This became an added advantage to my previous knowledge of Building Technology. Coupled with the Delta State Job and Wealth Creation Bureau Certificate issued to me at the end of my training, my patronage increased. It strengthened clients’ confidence in me. Everyone wants to work with me. To give back to society, I enrolled 10 youths for apprenticeship for free out of which four of them have completed their training.” 

“Tiling is lucrative; it has improved my financial status. I moved out of my former apartment where I could barely feed my family to a better place. My wife and children now feed well. I bought a piece of land of 100 X 50 feet and have taken my three apartments of two bedrooms each to lintel level. I have a wide range of clients. I have lost count of the number of jobs that I have executed. I have executed so many projects in Otor-Iyede and also in Eku, Sapele, Patani, Oguname, Agbarha and Abakiliki.  I look forward to diversifying into sales of tiling materials”

“Skills acquisition is the way to go. I want to specially thank Gover Ifeanyi Okowa for this initiative. He has indeed pulled so many youths off the streets to a life of self-employment. I advise STEP trainees to take the training seriously in order to become successful in their enterprises. I also appeal to them to complement what the State Government is doing by training indigent youths free to reduce unemployment in the state.”