In his bid to address unemployment, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, on Friday, inaugurated his personal iconic Shopping Mall for groceries and other consumables in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Ogunwusi said, at the inauguration of the outlet branded “OjajaMore,
that the outlet was in fulfilment of his age-long aspiration.
According to him, this is to redesign retail activities that would be gainfully driven by Nigerian youths, with a view to creating an enduring legacy for Africa in the global space.
The Ooni of Ife said that the outlet would provide more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs for youths, adding that the
OjajaMore, simply means where people (consumers) could pay less and get more.
“It is a combination of royalty and retail to create a different shopping perspective starting from Ile-Ife, ‘The Source’.
“The business is structured to allow personalised shopping to grow the retail business, which is grossly underdeveloped in Nigeria.
“This is due to reasons which include proliferation of neighborhood stores and unorganised markets, among others.
“Like we have names of people branded into companies like this in developed countries, I initiated this project to build the confidence of our younger ones in productive business and investment activities.
“Youths are the real drivers of economic growth.
“We have started from Ile-Ife because charity begins at home; from here, we will cover the entire South-West and Nigeria with a chain of over 100 stalls within the next 24 months.
“It will be first of its kind in Nigeria and the continent of Africa.
“Beyond grooming young minds and serious minded youths in retail business, this initiative will offer over 100,000 direct and indirect employment to our youths across the country
“Through this, it will, thereby be contributing in no small means to human development and capacity building; that’s my target,” the Ooni said.
Also, Mr Benedict Orioye, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the outlet, said that high-powered technology would be deployed to ensure that customers were treated with respect and royalty.
Orioye said that this was part of value for their money, beyond what was obtainable in similar outfits nationwide.
He said that the focus was to have local content as items making up of at least 70 per cent of items to be sold at the mall.
