Warrior Mom Empowerment Initiative.
Supporting the women who carry the weight of sickle cell disease — so they never have to choose between their child’s health and their family’s survival.
- The Reality These Mothers Face
Nigeria carries the world’s heaviest sickle cell burden. Roughly 150,000 newborns are affected every year, and about 2 to 3% of all Nigerians live with the disease. For the children and families behind those numbers, life is shaped by frequent pain crises, hospital stays, and relentless financial pressure.
One study found that 61% of the poorest Nigerian households caring for a child with sickle cell disease spent over 40% of their remaining income on medical care alone. That means medicines, clinic visits, and emergencies regularly crowd out food, school fees, and everything else a family needs to survive.
For the mothers at the center of this, the consequences are severe. Many struggle to hold down traditional employment. Out of necessity, they run small informal businesses — petty trading, palm oil processing, food stalls, charcoal sales, and small-scale farming. These modest enterprises provide critical income, but they are fragile. A single hospital emergency can force a mother to shut her stall for weeks. Too many emergencies, and the business disappears entirely.
- A Warrior Mom's Story: Zainab
Zainab is a mother of four children, all living with sickle cell disease. For years she ran a small roadside food stall, selling snacks and rice meals to her neighbors. Whenever her children fell sick — which was often — she used every bit of her earnings to cover medicines and clinic visits. Slowly, her business faded under the strain. This year, she lost her stall entirely. Caring for her children had become a full-time job, and there was nothing left to keep the business going.
“I did everything I could to help my kids,” she says, “but I lost my shop. Now I have nothing to earn money with, even though I still need to buy their medicines.”
Zainab’s story is not unusual. Across the communities we serve, mothers just like her are caught in the same impossible cycle. The Warrior Mom Empowerment Initiative exists to break it.
- The Program
The Warrior Mom Business Project is a three-month initiative launched by the NOB Foundation in partnership with Aziza Development Foundation and Tech Herfrica. Its goal is straightforward: improve the incomes of mothers caring for children with sickle cell disease, and by doing so, improve the quality of life for their entire families.
Each participant receives business and financial training, mentoring, and startup support to help her start or scale a sustainable micro-enterprise. In the words of our Country Director, this project is “about sustainability, dignity, and impact” — giving mothers the tools they need to support their families and afford their children’s healthcare.
The program is delivered in three phases:
- Phase 1 — Training of Trainers Community volunteers are equipped with the curriculum and materials so they can bring the program's lessons directly into each community and support participants in building lasting habits.
- Phase 2 — Empowerment Workshop At the launch event in Abuja, trainers delivered essential skills training in bookkeeping, digital marketing, budgeting, and financial literacy. Participants also received support in opening a bank account through GTBank, giving many of them access to formal banking for the first time.
- Phase 3 — Cluster Engagement After the workshop, participants meet in small local groups with mentors who also speak their local dialect. In these follow-up sessions, each mother builds her business plan, implements what she learned, and receives hands-on support to solve challenges as they arise. The goal is that by the end of Phase 3, every mother has not just a plan and a grant, but a lasting support network to keep her going.
- What We Found: Voices from the Community
Before launching the program, we conducted a needs assessment to understand who these women are and what they truly need.
Most of the Warrior Moms we serve are engaged in petty trading and small-scale farming. The majority had completed secondary school or less. When asked about their biggest barriers, three themes came up consistently: lack of capital, lack of equipment or tools, and interrupted business continuity caused by caregiving demands.
When we asked women what businesses they were ready to start or restart, their ideas were practical and diverse — grain trading, mobile recharge services, POS operations, vegetable and cassava farming, tailoring, soap making, and handmade bag production. Most said they needed between ₦100,000 and ₦500,000 to get started. Self-reported potential daily profits ranged from ₦5,000 to ₦80,000, with market day earnings often much higher.
The message was clear: these women already have viable business ideas and the drive to pursue them. What they lack is capital and support.
- Where We Are So Far
The Warrior Mom Empowerment Initiative has completed its first cohort. Training was delivered to 45 women across business skills, digital technology, financial literacy, and record-keeping. Following the training, micro-grants were awarded to qualifying participants based on factors including family circumstances, cluster meeting attendance, business viability, and funding needs. Eight women received seed funding to restart, scale, or launch their businesses.
This first cohort has already begun to spark change. But we see it as a beginning, not an end. The project has demonstrated that financial empowerment is its own form of care, and that mothers should not be punished economically for loving their children.
In 2026, we are launching the next cohort in a new community, and expanding the program to include soft skills training in baking, sewing, bag making, and other practical trades — giving more women more pathways to sustainable income.
- Program Highlights
- 45 women trained in business skills, financial literacy, and digital tools
- 8 women funded with micro-grants to start or grow their businesses
- 3 phases of support: training, workshops, and ongoing cluster mentorship
- 3 partners working together — NOB Foundation, Aziza Development Foundation, and Tech Herfrica
- 1 new community to be reached in the 2026 cohort
- ₦100,000 – ₦500,000 funding range requested by participants to reactivate their businesses
- ₦5,000 – ₦80,000 potential daily profit reported by women with viable business plans
The NOB Foundation believes that when a mother thrives, her whole family thrives — and no woman should have to choose between her child’s health and her family’s survival.
Together we are stronger.
No One Behind isn’t just our name — it’s a community promise. Step into it with us today.