Connect with us

News

Plateau Assembly Member gifts Women N10,000 Capital Empowerment Money

info

Published

on

Plateau Assembly Member, Baba Hassan gifts Women N10,000 Capital Empowerment Money (1)

In his efforts to curb poverty and assist women in a distressed economy, The Former Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly and current Member Representing Jos North-North Constituency, Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, through the Plateau Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (PLASMEDA), has officially kicked off the Women Capital Empowerment Program by giving 100 women 10,000 Naira in the 1st face of the empowerment scheme which is targeting 1500 women from his constituency.

While delivering cash to the women on Thursday 1st September 2022 at the complex of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, said the women were selected randomly across the constituency without discrimination on tribe or religion, He said he was specifically focused on empowering the women because of their role in taking care of the family.

The Honorable Member urged the various beneficiaries to put the money given into judicious use as most of them were selected based on them being SMEs, He said he recalled from the first batch of women empowered one particular woman made a huge turnover of the money and is now doing well for herself.

He stated that through the same initiative, he empowered 1500 persons last year and is stepping up the initiative to empower 2500 women this year and this is only the first face of the initiative starting off with 100 women.

In their remarks, fellow house members from Shandam, Wase and kwanpan North constituencies appreciated his efforts and called on the beneficiaries not to look down on the little that has been given to put it to judicious use.

Abuse Dang Izang, one of the beneficiaries expressed her heartfelt gratitude and full support for the Hon. member, she said that “if all politicians could replicate the same it will go a long way in reducing the rate of poverty in our communities”

A former women leader, Mrs. Rose Aji who also benefited from the initiative expressed her appreciation for the honorable saying “he is a man that takes everyone along either you’re a Christian or a Muslim” she prays that he will continue to do such great things even as he goes higher in office.

Another beneficiary, Mrs. Taye Ayinde shared how she was surprised when she and her sister Kehinde Ayinde were selected as beneficiaries. She said “honorable Ibrahim has been a blessing to my family, so he will be blessed”

While speaking to members of the press honorable Ibrahim promised that such initiative would not be the last as subsequently more women and men will be empowered. He noted that he was also embarking on further projects within his constituency which includes, the building of a school, a police outpost and motorized water boreholes.

The current Member Representing Jos North-North Constituency, Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, earlier picked the House of Representatives primary elections ticket of The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for Jos North/Bassa Federal constituency in the 2023 elections.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

New leaders, new fund: Sequoia has raised $7B to expand its AI bets

info

Published

on

By

Screen Shot 2023 01 13 at 3.33.43 PM.png

Few venture firms have bet more aggressively on AI than Sequoia Capital, and it isn’t slowing down.

The Silicon Valley stalwart has raised roughly $7 billion for a new fund, according to Bloomberg. Sequoia declined TechCrunch’s request for comment. The money will go toward what the firm calls its “expansion strategy” — essentially its late-stage investing arm, focused on the U.S. and Europe — and it’s nearly double Sequoia’s last comparable fund, a $3.4 billion vehicle raised in 2022.

That growth in fund size reflects something bigger: late-stage investing has taken on an entirely new meaning in the AI era. Companies can now scale at a speed and cost that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, and the firms backing them have to keep pace.

The money signals where Sequoia sees the future: deeply embedded in AI, from the giants building the underlying technology to the startups putting it to work. The firm has backed two of the most prominent players in the AI race — OpenAI originally and, more recently, Anthropic — both of which are reportedly eyeing public listings in 2026. The development that could mean a significant payday for the firm.

Sequoia isn’t only swinging for the foundational AI heavyweights, however. It has also placed bets on other buzzy startups, including Physical Intelligence, the Bay Area robotics startup, and Factory, which builds AI agents for enterprise engineering teams.

The fundraise is also the first major capital raise under Sequoia’s new leadership, with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady now serving as co-stewards of the 54-year-old firm.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026

Continue Reading

News

Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

info

Published

on

By

GettyImages 1356382582.jpg

More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology.

Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player.

On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, joined the startup’s board.

Factory founder Matan Grinberg told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different foundation models, such as Anthropic’s Claude or Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. However, startups like Cursor also don’t rely on a single model to generate code.

Factory’s customers include engineering teams at Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and Palo Alto Networks.

The startup was founded in 2023 after Grinberg, then a PhD student at UC Berkeley, cold-emailed Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. The two bonded over mutual academic interest. (Maguire’s PhD from Caltech is in the same area of physics Grinberg was studying.)

Maguire convinced Grinberg to drop out and launch Factory, with Sequoia backing the startup at the seed stage.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026

Continue Reading

Trending