3 CSOs Complete iCampus IDEAS Marketplace Initiative

With funding from Oxfam, iCampus Liberia in collaboration with Accountability Lab has concluded and certificated three out of nine civil society organization groups who successfully completed a six-month coaching and mentorship program.

They are Impact Initiative, FDA Community, Montserrado County; ImpactX, Gbarnga, Bong County and Action Against Sexual Gender-based Violence (SGBV), Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, respectively.

Known as Innovate, Develop, Empower and Act for Sustainability (IDEAS) Marketplace, was designed iCampus Liberia primarily to promote the economic development and welfare of businesses as well as CSOs. It also covers strategic planning, financial sustainability, networking, fundraising techniques, etc.

Luther D. Jeke, Chief Executive Officer of iCampus Liberia, who provided the overview of IDEAS Marketplace final pitching and closing ceremony on Wednesday, November 25, congratulated the three CSOs for emerging as winners of the program.

He said the goal of the program is to see CSOs striving beyond the current seed funding that has been made available to them by Oxfam. Mr. Jeke disclosed that the program also provided support and even dedicated grants of US$6,000 each to the CSOs to better prepare them for their journey.

He said, “This year, we got connected to Oxfam Director of Programs where she basically reached out to us to see whether we have the capacity to run this program called the IDEAS Marketplace, which is the Innovate, Develop, Empower and Act for Sustainability. 

“So, we basically accepted and we developed the proposal, the work plan, submitted and was accepted. The first start was to design the program and we designed the program and today we are happy to announce that out of nine we have three todays training for the selected CSOs.” 

For her part, Madam Kabita Bose, Country Director of Oxfam Liberia, lauded iCampus for successfully implementing the IDEAS marketplace program for selected CSOs. 

“We want to say a big thank you to iCampus for a job well done. And we want to say again that you have done a great job. It was not a mistake to select to implement this program for us,” Madam Bose. 

She urged the beneficiaries to seek more funding to strengthen their individual CSOs.  At the end of the program, the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to iCampus Liberia, Accountability Lab, and Oxfam for the support given them. They vowed to use the knowledge wisely to improve their businesses and CSOs.