The Career, Business, and Skill Acquisition (CABSA) summit, where millions of naira are disbursed in grants, is a practical response to society’s needs, Olumide Emmanuel, Founder/General Overseer of Calvary Bible Church, Alimosho, Lagos, has explained.
The annual summit, organized by the church, also offers free career and business clinics to residents of the surrounding communities.
The 2025 edition, the 8th in the series, with the theme ‘The Alimosho Exhibition and Business Summit,’ began on Wednesday, October 1, and is concluding today, Sunday, October 5, 2025. It has turned the church premises into a hub of trade, learning, and empowerment amid economic hardship.
Emmanuel says the initiative is the core of his ministry’s mission, stressing that “the salt is useless if it remains in the bottle… Your impact is not in the four walls where you clap hands and dance. As a church, as a ministry, we are a kingdom church. We are doing this because that’s what Jesus called us to do.”
He explained that the initiative, which began nine years ago as a skill acquisition programme during Easter, has evolved into a comprehensive ecosystem for empowerment.
CABSA 8.0, he said, now features an exhibition hall for local businesses, a career clinic, a business clinic, a full business summit with panel sessions, and an “open market” where essential goods are sold at factory prices.
The wealth coach revealed that the church will disburse “multiple millions of naira” in grants at the end of the 5-day event, continuing a tradition that has seen hundreds of entrepreneurs receive funding over the years.
He emphasised that the success isn’t measured in financial returns but in transformed lives. “In the kingdom, you can spend N100 million to win one soul because one soul is more valuable than $1 trillion. We are seeing people now knowing what to do with their finances, starting businesses, employing other people,” he explained.
This vision is embodied by exhibitors like Favour Ogedengbe, a fashion designer and cosmetics consultant.
“CABSA 8.0 has really given me visibility,” said Ogedengbe, a university graduate who turned to her business full-time after finishing school in August.
“The kind of visibility I’ve gotten here is different. This one, you’re having one-on-one people. You’re seeing them face-to-face,” she said, rediting a previous church exhibition for building her initial customer base.
The exhibition also attracted innovative startups. Assistant General Manager of Pertinence Group, Tolulope Oduselu, showcased a new fintech platform, ‘Genius by Pettisave’. He commended the church’s role.
“The church has a significant role to play in society, and one of the most important roles is also to help people, and business is one of the critical pillars.
“So allowing businesses to exhibit themselves and sell their products and services, and bring people together, is a symbol of unity, but it’s also a symbol of support for the community and the nation at large,” Oduselu noted.
Another first-time exhibitor, Temitope Ayo-Joshua of Eagle Foods, participating in the wholesale open market, said: “We are here to sell, to make our people happy, and to get the goods as cheap as possible.”
She described CABSA as “an impactful programme” that builds confidence and encourages businesses to “go the extra mile to make their business known to the world.”
Looking ahead, Emmanuel envisions continuous scaling. He projects that by CABSA 10.0, grant disbursements could reach tens of millions, impacting hundreds more businesses. However, he was clear about the role of government.
“I’m not waiting for government,” he stated, advocating for strong institutions over ad-hoc support. “Let the government do its job. Let them do what they were voted for. And we’ll do our own,” he stated.
For Emmanuel, the ultimate motivation remains singular: To transform lives”.
“Jesus came to die so that people can be saved. What we are doing is transforming lives, because our lives are being transformed by the sacrifice on the cross. Let us also transform the lives of people by sacrificing our time, our energy, our resources in the little way that we can,” he added.
