Care4Her Initiative, a nonprofit focused on closing gender gaps to improve the health (Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights ) of women and girls through economic empowerment, has completed a six-day training programme for 21 young women and girls from the Iru Victoria Island community under its flagship initiative, Project Empower 2.1: “Brushes to Business.”
Project Empower 2.1: “Brushes to Business” pairs free vocational makeup training with sexual and reproductive health education, anchoring this year’s International Day of the Girl Child theme, “End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls’ Rights,” in concrete, income-generating skills for underserved girls in the Iru Victoria Island LGA community, Lagos.
The programme, delivered in commemoration of the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child, equipped beneficiaries with professional makeup artistry skills, business and entrepreneurial training, and a dedicated session on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).
“We don’t see economic empowerment and reproductive health rights as two different conversations,” said Oyinkansola Gbolagunte, Founder and Executive Director of Care4Her Initiative (a Public Health Professional), and a professional makeup artist at Anikemua, who personally facilitated the training. “A girl who can earn is a girl with options, to say no to early marriage, and yes to a future she chooses for herself. That is the belief this entire programme is built on.”
Beneficiaries completed a curriculum spanning skin preparation, foundation application, soft-glam and bridal makeup techniques, and a business masterclass facilitated by Tito Ibeleme, Founder and Creative Director of T.A’lamode Beauty, covering pricing, client acquisition, and brand building.
Each graduate received professional makeup products, provided by beauty brand partners Zaron and Msmetics, enabling immediate practice and income generation following the training.
The programme’s SRHR session was facilitated by Mrs. Opeyemi Makanjuola Adesanya, Executive Director of Bridge the Gap, and focused on identifying sexual harassment and abuse, consent, menstrual health and hygiene, abuse of contraceptives, and referral pathways, reflecting Care4Her’s mission of improving women’s and girls’ SRHR.
Project Empower 2.1 was delivered in partnership with the Iru Victoria Island Local Government, which supported grassroots outreach and beneficiary mobilisation, alongside a coalition of private sector and civil society partners, including Anikemua, BasicsByHos owned by Morenike Van Jaarsveld, who is a Board Member of Care4Her Initiative, Zaron Cosmetics, a Nigerian NGO, T.A’lamode Beauty, Wiicreate, Msmetics, Double Excel Cosmetics, and Bolanle Obidare, who contributed products, services, and expertise across the six-day training and closing showcase.
The intervention aligns with Nigeria’s National Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Policy, championed by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, which commits the government to closing the gender gap in skills, entrepreneurship, and access to economic opportunity for women and girls nationwide.
The Co-Founder, Bamidele Oyewunmi, closed the ceremony with closing remarks and stated that Care4Her will provide beneficiaries with structured mentorship and market linkage support following the training, and plans to expand Project Empower to additional underserved communities in subsequent cohorts.
