By Kennedy Eberechi.
Identified as an amazon, woman valour and pathfinder of rare breed; Mrs. Jane Obozele; the Founder and Executive Director of Charity Ambassador Care Foundation is a manifestation of a hybrid cultural upbringing which has directly and greatly influenced her antecedents.
Driven by passion and determination to harness the potentials of women, while also exploring their capacity to lead an army of achievers in addressing some of the challenges bedevilling the Nigerian society through charity and volunteer work, the Organisation created the annual Miss Charity Ambassador Pageant and Charitable Personality Award
No doubt, the innovative, assiduous and focused Jane, who has in view a Master Degree in Business Administration from the Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom and married with children, has no doubt made a success of her passion, interest, zeal and home front.
In this chat, the light-Skinned Ex-Beauty Queen takes us a journey through her life, strives, passion, and some of her engagements and achievements.
Excerpts:
Your Pageant; Miss Charity Ambassador has been adjudge as one that has turned the ugly trends that have been trailing pageants in Nigeria and beyond; how have you been able to climb the ladder and sustained it?
Since its inception in 2014 as a trademark of Charity Ambassador Care Foundation, Miss Charity Ambassador Pageant was designed to raise confident, elegant and inspirational women who would use the power of their inner strength and character to galvanize a large army of stakeholders to alleviate the sufferings of the less privileged across different parts of Nigeria.
Over the years, the Pageant has succeeded in turning her passion into a beckon of hope, riding on the crest of the desire for a qualitative event to redefine pageantry with impact on communities and the society at large, even up to making global impact.
This is because, the contest is not just about the funfair of crowning beauty queens, but a platform aimed at discovering and encouraging talented female youths in Nigeria to participate effectively in championing charity campaigns and development in Nigeria. Owing to this, the pageant has helped in providing a unique platform that celebrates/showcases our rich cultural heritage.
The need to create such a platform whose mandate amongst others is to build confidence, inspire hope, empower through entrepreneurship skills and groom women into agents of social and economic change was based on the understanding that women are the catalyst to national development.
Therefore, as a basic requirement, the contestants selected from all parts of the country for the prestigious crown must champion a social issue that is important to her, which must meet the need of humanity.
The challenges of beginning and making a difference could be quite enormous especially as someone coming from a humble background and with the way things are kind of difficult in Nigeria; briefly highlight some of these challenges and how you were able to overcome them?
Challenges are opportunities for you to rise above and to do what needs to be done. Beginning as an entrepreneur, especially in the industry we find ourselves in Nigeria generally is really challenging.
Nigeria is blessed with hardworking and talented people striving to bring their talents to the spotlight. However, the biggest problem is the absence of a free platform to showcase these talents. Having the right platform is fundamental to building one’s talent. Without it, it becomes nearly impossible to hit the limelight.
One of the problems we faced and are still facing is funding; as a charity and advocacy organisation, getting a sponsor is not really easy. Even when you have some credible ideas and/or content to show for it, people still have this doubt of knowing if their money will yield returns.
However, we have been advocating and pushing forward in writing to some sponsors. Currently, we are hoping that individuals and business organisations will indicate interest to help in funding. We have written so many proposals that are on the pipeline right now, everything is working fine and at the right time they will fall in place.
It’s been God all the way. Though the journey has never been easy, but we strive against all odds to deliver an excellent output on every project we are involved in. Service delivery and job satisfaction are some of the foundations that have helped us.
Although we have had our setbacks, which we are trying to improve on, but on the whole, technological ingenuities and innovations have been our driving force. Charity Care Ambassador Foundation is well known in Nigeria and beyond today because of our consistency in service delivery and not being afraid to try new ideas or concepts.
Looking At Your Accomplishments, Tell Us Which One Gives You The Most Satisfaction.
I can hardly say which of our accomplishments gives me the most satisfaction. This is because they present a source of pride and joy to us as a whole – pride in the achievements of our team, at the result of the board’s focus, management’s commitment and most especially the hard work of our team members. And off course, I am satisfied that the little we are able to do within this short period of time are being recognized.
From Miss Nigeria, which started in 1957 to Silverbird Group’s Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN), the Nigerian entertainment sub-sector has in recent times seen a rise in the introduction of beauty pageants in various forms and shades.
Most remarkable is that in spite of the ugly tales, perhaps due to the sexy dress patterns of contestants and the daring manner in which they strut the runway; new trends have been trailing these pageants.
Significantly we primarily focus on harnessing the potential of women, while also exploring their capacity to lead an army of achievers in addressing some of the challenges bedevilling the Nigerian society through charity and volunteer work. This is an area that has branded us in the industry.
Pursuant to this, together with our mission statement, we have successfully organized annually 6 events with little or no funding in addition to raising young charity ambassadors who have made tremendous impacts in the society.
The Miss Charity Ambassadors have embarked on a lot of charity campaigns and selfless service to humanity. In 2014, through our “FEED A CHILD” project, we took to the streets to distribute food items and gifts to homeless children.
Knowing the importance of education, we also created a unique platform to encourage discipline and commitment to education in kids. Our “BACK TO SCHOOL” project sent over 50 children back to school and distributed free educational materials to over 200 indigent children.
2015 saw the widows celebrate their Easter in grand style with the queens, putting a smile on their faces by distributing food and gift items to them. In collaboration with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC), we flagged off the project tagged “KICK AGAINST DRUG ABUSE BY THE YOUTHS.
In 2017 through the office of Miss Charity Ambassador-Tourism (Queen Chidera Ebere), we initiated a project tagged “Heal the World” this project was centered on people living with disabilities,” Mrs Obozele highlighted.
One Goal You Are Determined To Achieve Or See Being Achieved In Nigeria?
Within the next few years I hope to make our brand global by building a safe haven for kids on the streets on Nigeria through our NGO in addition to putting the Miss Charity Ambassador Pageant and Charity Personality Award on global stage.
Also, I have this burning passion towards addressing the insecurities and healthcare challenges in Nigeria. I have already put in place fastidious plans towards having a project that will fund communities to take care of old people especially those with dementia.
Another area, which fires up my concerns as it relates to Nigeria as a nation, is the prevalence of political, social and communal crisis around the country today and the disheartening wave of insurgency/militancy. For me there is no better time other than now to spread and propagate the consciousness of sustainable peace within our society.
In view of this, I hope to use my platform to engage government and stakeholders in Nigeria to seek a participatory and complimentary attitude in galvanizing the interest of the youths and strategically re-channel them to national pursuits that will culminate in development and cultural recovery in a bid to address the burning issue of segregation and fundamentalism.
To build peace that leads to development, it is necessary to have mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures. If people accept cultural diversity and understand cultures other than their own, it will contribute to the prevention of conflict, building of peace and development. Hence, cultural diversity in Nigeria should be seen as an asset rather than a burden.
Observably, the emergence of differing culture and maintenance of cultural diversity has raised the possibility of the human race to adapt to environmental change in the future. Furthermore, in order for culture itself to retain its creativity and vitality, the existence of other cultures is a must. New ideas are born from other cultures, and the source of cultural creativity lies within constant encounters between different cultures.
Therefore, the determination to improve cultural dialogue and integration and empower same through concerted developmental efforts stands in good stead to be effortlessly actualized when the Citizenry is fully incorporated into the vision.
This is because, the moment the citizens are sufficiently educated about the essence of and the philosophy behind Nigeria’s rich cultural diversity, it is easier for the different segments of the complexity that Nigeria is, to now unify and decide to live in peace, harmony, equality and respect for equity, social justice and practice democracy the way it should be.
One fundamental objective of state policy should be to promote our cultural values. To promote cultural values one has to create the enabling environment for the proper promotions of the different cultural activities that we find Nigeria.
Who Is Your Biggest Role Model And What Would Be Your Advice To Young People Like Who Have Big Dreams?
Do I really have a role model? (laughs). I admire Malala Yousafzai who was shot by the Taliban for fighting for women’s rights and survived but continued to bring education to women and children. Most remarkable is that she was the youngest woman to receive the noble prize award.
