Blogger lights up small businesses in grand style

Blogger Japheth Omojuwa created something powerful and unique on New Years day:

He birthed a Twitter hashtag to empower small businesses and made it trend.

But then he went one better--he made the trend blow!

The way only Omojuwa can.

It was something called the Support for Small businesses #SBS2017.

The idea behind it all was simple: Retweet the tweet from @Omojuwa twitter handle, pitch your business idea and get a grant for your business.

And it worked.

Within moments of launching the hashtag, #SBS2017 caught on like wildfire.

Omojuwa began the campaign with N500,000 of his own money. Within hours, Omojuwa's seed funding had been quadrupled.

By January 4, 2017, #SBS2017 had garnered N2.3M in support for small businesses from like minded Nigerians. And that amount keeps getting topped.

And topped.

According to Omojuwa, "At least 70 per cent of the businesses are owned by women. All the winners will have their accounts funded between Saturday 7th January, 2017 and Friday 13th January, 2017. More details will be released about the winning businesses once they are formally engaged. The total sum to be shared is about N2.7m in cash and website development services, apart from the media and professional support. Winners will also get some business development training from our volunteers".

The testimonies and the words of gratitude have been pouring in thick and fast for Omojuwa and his initiative.

What next for #SBS2017?

"The next one will be bigger and better and several donors are lining up to support small businesses through the initiative. We can't always wait for government to lend a helping hand. Each one of us is capable of changing our country from our own little corners of the planet. Sometimes, we just have to lead the way as citizens", Omojuwa told Pulse.

For Omojuwa and his empowering businesses initiative, the future certainly looks bright--strikingly so, from the ashes of an economic recession.