130 women unite under WEE platform, choose cassava processing as pathway to economic empowerment
From Rhoda Godwin, Yenagoa
The hall was dark. There was no electricity at the Amassoma Town Hall when about 130 women gathered on August 17, 2026, for what would become the beginning of a potentially life-changing economic journey. The organisers had prepared attendance sheets for just 55 women. But the turnout was more than double that number.
Women kept arriving, registering, and taking their seats, despite the poor lighting in the hall. When they asked for the generator to be put on, they were told there was no fuel because no provision had been made for it.
Yet, while the room remained dark, the women were busy discussing a future they hoped would be brighter.
The meeting was organised as part of a women’s economic empowerment initiative facilitated through the Women Entrepreneurs in Export (WEE) Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd., with Women Building Lives Humanitarian Foundation (WBLHF) serving as the NGO platform, in collaboration with Spaces for Change (S4C), and with support from the Open Society Foundation (OSF).
And there was one central question before the women: What kind of business would actually work for them?
The organisers did not come with a project they expected the women to simply accept. Instead, they presented three options, and invited the women to deliberate and make their own choice.
The first was a palm-based enterprise covering palm fruit supplies, plantation, processing, and marketing. The second was an ogbono enterprise involving plantation, supplies, and marketing. The third was processed garri packaging and marketing, including a proposed four-in-one garri product made with combinations such as coconut, sugar, milk, and groundnut.
Samples of the proposed products were displayed.
The women listened. They considered the options. Then they made their choice. Garri.
“We already have cassava,” they said.
The decision was not based on sentiment. It was based on what the women already knew.
Many of them have cassava farms, and already process cassava into garri. They understood the production process. They knew the product. They knew how it was consumed and sold within their communities.
What they wanted was an opportunity to move beyond traditional production into value addition, packaging, and better marketing.
The women explained that cassava production and garri processing could provide faster returns than the other proposed ventures. They also pointed out that the project would require less lands.
For them, it made economic sense. Rather than start an unfamiliar business, they wanted to take something already in their hands, and make it more profitable.
That decision could potentially transform garri from a basic household food commodity into a more organised income-generating enterprise. The proposed four-in-one garri, for instance, could allow the women to package and market a product targeted at a wider range of consumers.
The emphasis would no longer be only on producing garri. It would be about adding value to garri.
Women move from discussion to organisation
But choosing the project was only the beginning. The women were informed that they would need to provide land for the project, while the implementing organisation would execute the initiative on the land.
That immediately brought another issue to the table. Who would represent the women? Who would approach traditional authorities and families that own land? Who would speak for the collective interest of the women?
The answer was found in another decision made that same day—the formation of an executive council. One of the women noted that Amassoma is made up of three quarters, known locally as biri: Alomu, Ogoni, and Akpodu.
The women agreed that their leadership should reflect the three quarters. They, therefore, organised themselves according to their respective quarters, and elected representatives.
Six executive positions were filled—Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, and Public Relations Officer. The existing Women Leader was subsequently added to the council, bringing the total membership of the Executive Council to seven.
The newly constituted leadership is:
Peretunumubofa Bolou-sobai — Chairperson (Alomu), Queen Otobo — Vice-Chairperson (Akpodu), Taribonumugha Prince Kumas — Secretary (Ogoni), Kuroakegha Doubra — Treasurer (Akpodu), Sikpi Joy Deinbainimikemefa — Financial Secretary (Ogoni), Diepreye Falegha — Public Relations Officer (Alomu), and Accra Blessing — Women Leader (Alomu).
The women also unanimously agreed on a name: Amassoma Women Farmers Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd.
With their leadership now in place, they set their first major target—to secure about five plots of land for the proposed project. They further suggested that Mr Bolou Sobei, the convener of the women and affectionately referred to as their ‘Godfather’, should accompany them in their efforts to secure the land.
From farmers to entrepreneurs
The significance of the women’s choice goes beyond garri. At its heart, it is about allowing rural women to move further along the agricultural value chain.
For years, women farmers have produced agricultural commodities, but often remain at the lowest end of the value chain.
They cultivate. They harvest. They process. They sell.
But the greatest value is frequently created after the product leaves their hands—through packaging, branding, distribution, and marketing.
The Amassoma women now want to enter those stages themselves. Their vision is to take cassava from their farms, process it into garri, package it professionally, and market it as a finished product.
That transition—from farmer to processor, and from processor to entrepreneur—is where the real economic opportunity lies. And that is where the WEE platform becomes significant. The Women Entrepreneurs in Export Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd. provides a broader cooperative and entrepreneurship framework through which women can potentially organise around economic activities, build collective capacity and explore opportunities beyond subsistence production.
For the Amassoma women, however, the immediate focus remains local. First, land. Then training. Then production. Then the market.
What happens next?
The women’s enthusiasm is clear, but the success of the initiative will ultimately depend on implementation.
Among the recommended next steps are: formalising the engagement between S4C and WBLHF, registering the newly formed women’s cooperative and developing a detailed business plan.
Training is also expected to cover improved cassava production and processing, four-in-one garri production, packaging and marketing.
A clear implementation strategy will also be required. For the women, securing the land is the immediate priority.
Five plots could become the foundation of a cooperative enterprise owned and driven by women who already understand the crop at the grassroots level.
A dark room, with bright decision
By the time the meeting ended, the women had accomplished more than the organisers initially set out to achieve.
They had listened to the proposals. They had debated them. They had chosen a project. They had elected their leaders. They had formed a cooperative. And they had identified their first assignment.
The hall remained dark that day.
But the women were not leaving empty-handed. They left with a project they had chosen themselves, leaders they had elected themselves and a collective ambition to turn the cassava they already produce into something more valuable.
Perhaps that is the most powerful part of the Amassoma story. The women were not told what their future should look like. They were given the opportunity to choose it. And they chose garri.
Now, the real test is whether that decision can be transformed from a meeting-room resolution into a thriving women-owned enterprise—one that puts more money in the hands of the women who plant the cassava, process the garri and understand, perhaps better than anyone else, the value of what they produce.