With an ambition to be standing along every Nigerian woman resident in Qatar in their time of need and fulfilling a long overdue Nigerian Expat Women Forum (NEWFOQ) in Qatar has started to blossom.
NEWFOQ thrives to become a formidable network of Nigerian women, which is recognised in Qatar and Nigeria as a forum of women who are supportive of one another.
The idea to introduce an all-female Nigerian expat women forum in Qatar popped into Noimot Omolara Olayiwola’s head after she attended the celebration of Nigeria's 59th Independence Day held in Doha last year.
At that event, the room felt almost empty without an adequate number of women in attendance as it used to be during the time when the Nigerian community in Qatar was being referred to as ‘DohaNaija’, said Noimot sharing the story behind how NEWFOQ was launched. She is organisation’s Founding Chair.
The nostalgic feelings of how cohesive the Nigerian community was at DohaNaija time emboldened Noimot to call on a few notable Nigerian women in Qatar to inform them of her idea which they all welcomed and NEWFOQ was launched on November 23, 2019.
“I can add that the idea for the forum got an impetus due to my personality. I am a person who cherishes relationships and always ever-ready to extend a helping hand to whoever is in need. I have always been at the fore-front when it comes to the issue of welfare of women within my community,” she told The Peninsula.
NEWFOQ is a non-religious, non-political and non-partisan organisation. It is simply a community-based social-cultural organisation of women who are respectful of one another, as well as caring and loving.
“Women need each other for support, networking, empowerment and growth. We need each other as rocks; we can all lean on one another in times of needs and we need one another to stand tall at the moments when emotions are down,” said Gloria Ocheche, NEWFOQ Coordinator.
Ocheche says NEWFOQ is also being envisaged as a platform to showcase the richness of the culture and the women fabric of our dear country, Nigeria to Qatar and its people as well as other expat communities in the country through social and cultural activities relating to women while highlighting important dates and occasions on the calendar of both our nations as well as the international community.
“NEWFOQ will also be a forum comprising of women who love to give back to any community where they find themselves. This will be a highly desirable and very important tenet of the group (though voluntary) as they would seek to give back to Qatar – a country that has nurtured and cared for us since our day one of arriving here.”
In addition, she says, NEWFOQ would also seek to give back to our motherland, Nigeria through volunteering our time, intellects and monetary to better the lot of folks back home.
“It is our hope that our little contribution would enhance our people's livelihoods and compliment government's efforts in providing basic amenities to the citizens,” said Ocheche.
NEWFOQ has already started to make a mark in the community. It recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with KON Consulting WLL. As a result of the agreement, KON Consulting WLL has become NEWFOQ’s strategic partner for organising activities which will positively impact the Nigeria women community in Qatar.
As strategic partners, both parties will cooperate on a number of projects such as empowerment forums, business investment meetings, tourism exhibitions, workplace training programmes, business and career consultancy services, organising cultural and community awareness events with themes from Qatar and Nigeria in a bid to bridge the two cultures.
