At 21, Onyinye Faustina from Enugu State carries a burden far heavier than her age. She was at tender age of 11 when she lost her mother and not long after, death also took her father. Since then, life has been a painful struggle, filled with hardship and uncertainty for the young girl.
She is the fourth child out of six children. Having roamed the streets in search of a good life with fewer skills, no funds and no university education to back it, she heard about Diageo’s ‘Learning for Life’ programme, and she applied for it.
Out of over 1,000 youth that applied nationwide, Onyinye got enlisted for the 12-week programme, divided into a classroom/online training phase and an industry internship. In the classroom, Onyinye realised that her story is not totally different from some of the other 156 students who were finally selected for the course.
The Learning for Life initiative by Diageo, a global beverage company, was introduced in Nigeria as part of the company’s efforts to tackle unemployment and equip young people with industry-relevant skills needed to secure jobs and become entrepreneurs.
The students who graduated recently were trained in various aspects of hospitality industry operations such as customer service, bar operations, confidence, protocol and decorum, resolving conflict in the workplace, and communication skills.
