The Federal Government has adopted Imo State’s One Kindred, One Business Initiative (OKOBI) as a national strategy to tackle youth unemployment, officials announced at a town hall meeting for small and medium enterprises in Owerri.
Prof. Kenneth Amaeshi, Chief Economic Adviser to the Imo State Government, said the model converts informal local skills and ventures such as poultry, piggery and palm oil production into group-owned, profit-driven and formally registered enterprises. It relies on collective ownership, commercial viability and partnerships with institutions rather than direct government handouts.
Governor Hope Uzodimma, represented by Deputy Governor Dr. Chinyere Ekomaru, said 65 community-owned businesses have already been established across the state and are awaiting registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission. The initiative draws on the Igbo principle of Igwebuike strength in unity to encourage kindreds to pool resources, skills and capital for collective enterprise.
“When kindreds pool their collective strengths, resources and talents, and take ownership of an enterprise, they can achieve far more than any one individual,” the governor’s representative said. He stressed that registration is only the first step and that professional, transparent management will determine long-term survival and market competitiveness. Success, he added, will be measured by jobs created, families lifted out of poverty and communities transformed, not merely by the number of businesses registered.
Out of Imo’s 656 autonomous communities, 120 earlier expressed interest in the programme, with 65 advancing from concept stage to formal business proposals. The participating communities are engaged in fish and livestock farming, shoe-making, poultry, piggery, palm oil and timber mills, vegetable and cassava farming, renewable energy, cassava processing, bakery, water production, abattoir operations, feed mills and honey extraction, among other activities.
Immediate past APC state chairman Dr. MacDonald Ebere pledged to personally sponsor 100 additional communities to establish OKOBI enterprises. He called on commercial banks, corporate organisations and private investors to provide financial backing, market linkages and technical support, arguing that long-term survival depends on private-sector participation beyond government policy.
Amaeshi reported growing international interest, including from the London School of Economics and investors in Bangladesh. An American firm has already screened 10 local OKOBI businesses for possible direct investment. Local partnerships have also formed with IHS and the Anglican Communion, which has committed to establishing 1,500 OKOBI enterprises across its parishes.
State Investment Promotion Agency Director-General Dr. Jude Nzeako said the programme is being expanded to rural communities to boost local production, exports and food security.
Entrepreneurship Commissioner Prof. Chinonye Love-Moses described enterprise creation as essential to preventing poverty, while Finance Commissioner Dr. Chuck Chukwuemeka said the government is putting in place frameworks for targeted loans through commercial banks, with existing OKOBI businesses to receive priority access as the model is rolled out across all autonomous communities.
Community representatives from Abia-Omuma, Ndegwu and Ife, among others, praised the initiative and appealed for faster CAC registration and financial support to scale their enterprises.
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