INTELS Nigeria Limited, providers of logistics services for the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry, has graduated 62 women from its 2025 Women Empowerment Project Scheme Synergy (WEPSS) which trains them in tailoring and fashion design.
WEPSS was launched in 2013 as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to train 5,000 women in tailoring and fashion design over 20 years. This year was held at the Rosa Volpi Women Development Centre in the Federal Lighter Terminal at the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone in Rivers State.
The company says it has trained several women from low-income backgrounds with the skills, confidence, and resources to build viable businesses, improve household income, and contribute to local economic growth.
“Our vision for WEPSS has always been to do more than train; we want to create opportunities for lasting prosperity,” said Pasquale Fiore, managing director of INTELS said.
The company said that since 2022, it began awarding fully equipped shop facilities to the best graduates of the program. Last year’s best graduating student got a furnished shop to support the launch of her fashion design career.
“Seeing their shops open, seeing them support their families, and seeing the confidence they now carry is testimony to what targeted empowerment can achieve,” Fiore said.
He affirmed that the top 15 graduates of the 2025 class would receive starter kits to help launch their enterprises.
Saraphina Jacob, the best graduating trainee this year, received N2 million and a starter kit that included an industrial sewing machine and a steam iron. She said she would use the opportunity to build a sustainable fashion business that would “make the company and the community proud.”
Nancy Freeborn, the WEPSS project coordinator, said it has helped women in Rivers State to become contributors to family welfare and community development rather than dependants. It had also recently introduced the Train-the-Trainer Scheme and partnered with the Fashion Experience Festival and Private Broadway Shows to offer students exposure to broader creative and commercial opportunities in the fashion industry.
