By Ozioma Odita
Chief Mrs Shimite Bello who is running for the office of the House of Assembly in the 2023 general election is one of the few female women in politics, who dares to hold on in a predominantly patriarchal society where opportunities for women at the top is sparse.
She has recently been given a “Chieftaincy Title” as a daughter of the Ebu Kingdom in Oshimili North Local Government Area.
Bello’s vast biography shows her accomplishments throughout Nigeria and other countries, in which she has impacted the lives of millions.
She ran a travel agency, “Generations Travel Agency and Tours” between 2005 and 2012. She was a contributing editor for the travel and tourism columns with Daily Trust Newspaper, Leadership Newspaper and African Travel Quarterly Magazine.
She was an active member of the National Tour Operators of Nigeria (NATOP), National Association of Travel Agencies (NANTA), Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) and Association of Nigerian Journalists in Entertainment and Tour-ism (ANJET).
Bello began working with grassroots women and youths in financial literacy, gender mainstreaming, financial inclusion in the areas of Agriculture, Solid Minerals, ICT and Agency Banking.
She was the Special Assistant to the Special Advisor to the former President, Goodluck Jonathan on Ethics and Values and part of the International Women’s Think Tank (United States).
She trained with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and other DFID intervention partners.
Bello joined Women in Public Management, Business and Administration (WIMBIZ), Rural Financing of Nigeria (RUFIN), Association of Non-Bank Micro-Finance Institutions of Nigeria (ANMFIN) and Chartered institute of Commerce, among others.
Appointed as the Executive Secretary of Delta State’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency in 2015, Bello disbursed funds across various trades and occupations to all 270 wards in Delta State. Part of the projects carried out is the Delta Food Export Initiative, Job Creation Steering Committee, Agri-cultural Marketing Board and the Delta State Focal Person for the Federal Government Intervention: National Social Safety – Net programme (a social investment program) that oversees N-Power, Home Grown School Feeding Programme (a Project of the Vice President), GEEP and the Social Register and Cash Transfer.
She also served on committees, including Steering committee of USAID/NEXTT (Nigerian Ex-panded Trade & Transport)- LAKAJI Trade Corridor and the Agric – Business Development.
She is an active member for policy formulation and amendment for National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) and a multiple award winner in the areas of Community Development, Micro Finance, Youth and Women Development, Media and Agricultural Development.
Bello and her team (the Quintessential Business Women Association-see below) handled the Federal Government’s Social Investment program, N-power in the state, which was targeted at youth empowerment. They also handled the home- grown school feeding pro-gram, as well as gave out small loans to traders at the market and street hawkers.
Bello, at the end of her tenure in office, was reappointed by the Governor as his Executive Assistant on Export Initiatives and UNIDO Center, which she is currently serving. For her, the new portfolio is an extension of what she did in the first dispensation; doing training on job readiness, financial literacy, packaging, bran-ding, labeling, standardization, integrity for product and service delivery in readiness for export.
Quintessential Business Women Association (Nigeria). QBWA is a Social Business Enterprise & Pressure Group focused on the development of community based businesses in the Agricultural and Solid Mineral Sector. QBWA is a Social Business Enterprise and Pressure Group focused on the development of community based businesses in the Agricultural and Solid Mineral Sector.
QBWA membership strength of over 928,000 nationwide and is aimed at empowering 1, 000 women and 200 youths in the 774 local government area across the 36 states in the country.. We have a membership strength of over 928,000 nationwide.
The Quintessential Businesswomen Association (QBWA) which now has a United Nations Consultative Status and works with different UN Organizations. QBWA has partnered with several domestic and international organizations, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), DFID and USAID.
QBWA has been vetted by the U.S. Department of Commerce to work in the United States on several projects. The U.S Department of Commerce had assigned a Representative to work with QBWA to assist in getting their products into the United States. Since the change of government and COVID-19 the process was halted.
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