Speakers for a DJ, solar for a barbershop: two Ojodu businesses win the October Apatira award

Two businesses in Ojodu LCDA have been named the winners of the October 2026 Apatira Monthly Empowerment award — and this month the two are not taking the same thing.

Olalekan Afeez Ajuwon, who has run Xbeatz Entertainment as a disc jockey in Ogba for fifteen years with four people working with him, receives ₦150,000 towards professional sound equipment: speakers, a mixer, microphones and lighting.

He has been renting gear for bigger bookings; with his own set he keeps the margin.

Bashiru Oluwagbenga Akeem runs Vogue Dazzling Hub, a barbershop at Oluwole, Ogba, with five staff.

His biggest running cost is power — public supply, then a generator and its fuel.

He asked for a solar power station, and that is what he is getting: the battery, the inverter, the panels, and the wiring and mounting, enough to carry the lights, the clippers and the fan through the working day without the generator.

Nine businesses applied for the October award.

The two winners tied at the top of the assessment with 64 points each.

The awards follow what each winner asked for rather than one flat figure paid to everybody: the point is to remove the thing that is holding the business back — a missing sound set in one case, a weekly fuel bill in the other.

Hon.

Opeyemi Apatira, Leader of the Legislative Arm of Ojodu LCDA, said the programme is built to outlast the cheque: winners are not simply handed money, the Apatira Business Team monitors their progress and sources other grants and development programmes for them, especially for women and youths.

Both winners have been contacted, and the presentation will be arranged at the office.

Applications for the next round are open at https://apatira.me/empowerment We hope to form the next business community in and around our localities, from ward to world.

Visit www.apatira.me for more.