Economic Empowerment Project

Wealth Development for a common cause. Karo-Ojire Investment Limited is a "Pan Yoruba Co-operative Economic Revolution" TM for ownership and future employment for participants. To economically develop Yoruba race by eliminating absolute poverty through cooperative investment YIF has created a novel Economic Empowerment Project. The vision of this project is to establish the best trustworthy cooperative economic structure that will enrich stakeholders and create jobs for present and future Yoruba generations with self worth, minds free of corruption, greed and self-centeredness.

Karo-Ojire Investments LTD.

Mission Statement:

To economically develop Yoruba race by eliminating absolute poverty through cooperative investment.

Vision:

To establish the best trustworthy cooperative economic structure that will enrich stakeholders and create jobs for present and future Yoruba generations with self worth, minds free of corruption, greed and self-centeredness.

Goals:

• To promote a profitable and sustainable economic activity that will meet our members needs and impact our communities where our members live.
• To increase our firm’s market share by seeking large membership from our communities by availing them with the opportunities and benefits of the joint economic venture
• To gain competitive edge with greater membership numbers.
• To increase our firm’s role in relations to social and economic responsibilities for special life time opportunities.

We as a people can no longer continue to glorify a developed national paralysis that is driven by waiting for the government or someone else to do something for us where there is no hope or future. The beauty of cooperative economy or private sector is that we don’t have to win an election, convince the Senate, members of The House of Representatives or pass a bill to do what we think is right for us. We can simply move our race forward, doing what we know is best for us.
With massive buying power, we can free ourselves from economic bondage and set ourselves free of National woe. The center piece of our cooperative venture will be a pledge to hire our people and grassroots students many of who had and may be having difficult times to have jobs after finishing their formal training in their various field of endeavors.
The overall unemployment rate of our race in the country is immeasurable. KOI will demonstrate a tremendous opportunity to leverage operational skills that today’s Yoruba professionals will bring to uplift its economic services. KOI’s believe is that none of our children who goes to school should have to fight for employment ones he/she finishes his/her academic training if he/she so desires. Our institution will set a groundbreaking example for the private sector or the government to follow.
“Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.” John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Thirty-fifth President of the USA
Yoruba Cooperative Economy in which every investor shall be paid members of Yoruba Indigenes Foundation for ownership and future employment of participants and generations to come. The founder’s vision is to establish a formidable cooperative economic institution that will sustain Yoruba race for more than two thousand (2,000) years beyond his time with intent to equally carry along interested members of YIF. Let us fix our economy collectively without waiting for the government. This cooperative business venture will be responsive to Yoruba communities need as well as stimulate the race local economic growth. The race should see this form of cooperative business as an obvious choice to break free from the prevailing poverty syndrome.
This cooperative business idea with a huge numbers of investors investing N5,000.00 per student and N100,000.00 per adult members including their children will foster economic growth at Yoruba communities and regional levels for rural and urban development.
“In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.” John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2007) Canadian-American economist.
With debt free local economic venture ownership and control, and net gain distributed to those stake holders who use the cooperative for the progress of society, their names will never perish. The pattern, structure and objectives of this cooperative venture will compel participants to act defiantly in their respective communities than businesses with other organizational structures.
Furthermore, this cooperative venture will offer our race a way for us as a group of individuals to pool our limited resources together to achieve a critical mass economic progress. This process will not bring just progress but will also unit us as a race by putting our meager resources, and capital into larger, more viable and economically competitive units. Since direct government assistance for job opportunities and communities development have been shrinking drastically, we as a race must tap into potential for locally owned cooperative economic empowerment for alleviation of poverty to play a more vital and direct role in our rural and urban economic development scheme. Since this vision is as a result of call from the above, we as a people will use this cooperative economic pool of our people as a development tool and should use it to promote both social empowerment and economic goals.

What is cooperative economy?

Cooperative economy is organized economic service that is organized around the needs of its members, who own and control it through a democratically elected board. Benefits, assets, and liabilities distribution are based on individual investment shares and on use or patronage. International Alliance of Cooperatives (ICA) describes a co-op as “an autonomous, voluntary association meeting common economic, social, and cultural needs through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise."

Definition

This Yoruba cooperative venture is organized to meet the common needs of our race as a group of people. We opted for its creation as a need to rectify social and economic stress as grass-roots response to market, infrastructure decadence and job imperfections. This cooperative structure is influenced by unpalatable economic situations in our regions based on Yoruba historical and cultural factors. We are determined to take the bull by the horns in fighting our common enemy; ‘poverty’.
KOI will subordinate the interests of its capital investor to those of the business user, and returns on capital shall be limited. Member patrons shall be the primary source of equity capital. KOI business ventures shall differ from other public business structures because its activities shall be operated on principles that encompass Yoruba race broader social or communities need, as well as business, concerns.
“Economy is too late when you are at the bottom of your purse.” (4 BC-65) Roman philosopher and playwright.

• Voluntary and Open Membership from YIF
• Democratic Member Control
• Member Economic Participation
• Autonomy and Independence
• Education, Training and Information
• Concern for Community

In response to changing government and market conditions, our race will be experimenting cooperative economic principles that will better serve us. We shall use our closed membership to maximize efficiency, profitability and the return on member equity investments.

Primary Business Objective

Agriculture, real estate development, road construction, general building materials and Arts and cultural artifacts outfits in Yoruba States.
Men cannot not live by exchanging articles, but producing them. They live by work not trade. John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic. “Talk is cheap, action brings progress”
Asiwaju Olumide Mayungbe (2012).
Structure:
Owners: Founder and members
Membership requirement: Must be a paid member of Yoruba lndigenes Foundation and a paid investing member of Karo-Ojire Investments Ltd.
Business Purpose: To meet members’ needs for goods, services, employment; and earn returns on members investment.
Finance of business: Shares/ stocks to investing members for retaining of profits.
Sample of what KOI real estate may look like.
Sample of what KOI building material shop may look like.
Nike African Art gallery in Lekky, Lagos.
Sample of what KOI Art gallery buildings may look like.
Written by a selfless visionary humanist and founder, Asiwaju Olumide Mayungbe.