DD Foundation

by Linda Dennar

“A lovely day to everyone! I would love to present myself to you. My name is Linda Dennar. I am from a small town in Nigeria, West Africa called Azumini. I spent the growing years of my life in the Southern part of Nigeria where I achieved my basic education. I had bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering and M.Sc. in Reservoir Engineering prior to the commencement of my Petroleum Engineering Career. I have worked for various indigenous and multinational oil & gas exploration and production companies. My Quest to break new frontiers in enhanced oil recovery brought me to TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TU BAF) and I am enjoying it. I am currently a Doctoral Candidate working on the suitability of “Polymer Alternating Gas injection (EOR)” in the Sandstone depo structure at the institute of Drilling and Fluid Mining, TU BAF. I am very passionate about tending to the needy, widows and indigent children. This passion gave birth to the “DD Foundation” that has reached out to over 3000 Adults and Children. Many thanks to the EMPOWER program for giving me a leap in managing this initiative and thus propelling it forward. My favorite extracurricular activity is travelling and listening to good music. I explored 5 different continents and I am blessed with a lovely husband and Children.”

What project idea did you generate or nurture during your time in EMPOWER program?

During my time in EMPOWER, I nurtured the DD Foundation project, which is a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) with a mandate and responsibility to reach out to the less privileged orphans, motherless, widows, the deprived and the indigent people.

Mission: To become a responsible global health care outreach, empowerment, entrepreneurial skills and family support organization for those who are in need, irrespective of race, gender, culture, and religion. Our target is to reach out and help to as much as 1000’s of people every year.

VISION: To be a globally recognized NGO, touching lives of many people in a responsible manner and transforming their destinies; bringing back hope and embrace happiness within themselves.

What lasting memories do you associate with your time in EMPOWER program?

I have experienced very great moments in the EMPOWER program. I cannot over emphasize the great level of joy and growth that has manifested during this period. During this time, the interaction with colleagues and amiable instructors of the EMPOWER program, I have acquired better relational, technical, and entrepreneurial skills. As the adage goes “Do in Rome as the Romans Do”, as a foreigner, the EMPOWER program facilitated a very good integration into the German culture, which helped me to sharpen my project management skills. This of course has taken the DD Foundation to another level. THANK YOU EMPOWER!

What is the current status of your EMPOWER project?

The DD Foundation is fully operational and has three main areas, which are free medical aid, free food & material supplies, and financial support (scholarships). Our support benefits especially for widows and indigent people for small scale business start-ups. In summary, until now, 1235 people have benefited from free medical missions, 1433 people from free food handouts, 20 people from small scale business start-ups and 10 scholarship awards for basic education

What is the next phase of your project?

The next phase of the project includes improvement initiatives like partnerships with bigger foundations and hosting a user-friendly website (which is under progress). From EMPOWER program, I have learned to improve the capacity building, which I will implement on indigent people to develop the core accountabilities of the foundation. The zenith of the program will be to fully integrate the foundation into the German community and create as much value as I can.

What internal and external contacts did you build throughout your time in EMPOWER program?

I have built various internal and external contacts within my time in EMPOWER. Of course, my first contacts are my amiable EMPOWER family members, from whom I have graciously learnt during the past few years. In course of EMPOWER timeframe, the foundation has also been in contact with the likes of Connak Foundation (affiliated to Bill and Melinda gates Foundation, Donald J. Trump Foundation, Kiek Foundation, Carson scholarship fund etc). Other key contacts include the DBI (Deutsches Brennstoffintitut) and other alliances.

What is your motivation for joining this EMPOWER program?

My main motivation for joining the EMPOWER project is to enhance my key integration and project management skills. Additionally, I was looking for a grounding balance on having a seamless delivery of my doctoral research project.

Will you tell us your life motto at the end?

My life motto at the end can be compressed into one sentence– “Life is progressive. Keep learning and keep growing”. Kudos to EMPOWER !!!”.

Which elements of EMPOWER training do you find most helpful?

I particularly enjoyed the project management modules, regular feed backs and moderation on project enhancement tips.

EMPOWER – a programme for good governance and social entrepreneurship

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