A year after flames swept through the bustling Dosunmu Market in Lagos Island, some traders are slowly rising from the ashes; one bank loan, one rebuilt shop, one act of resilience at a time.

The fire, which tore through 14 buildings on April 9, 2024, turned thriving businesses and decades of hard work into smouldering ruins, leaving behind heartbreak, loss, and uncertainty.

But amid the wreckage, stories of survival and new beginnings are emerging.

Alhaja Modinat Bakare, a tailoring accessories importer and long-time trader, had just stocked her warehouses when disaster struck.

 “Everything I worked for over 40 years was gone in a day,” she said, her voice still heavy with emotion, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Bakare told NAN that the fire wasn’t her first heartbreak; months earlier, she had lost another shipment in a friend’s warehouse. But the April inferno was the final blow.

“I watched my two warehouses burn, powerless,” she said. “I had loans to repay and no business left.”

Through the intervention of IBILE Microfinance Bank Ltd., Bakare received a lifeline.

The bank helped clear her existing loans and granted her fresh credit at a lower interest rate. She is now back in business—cautious but grateful.

“I am not fully recovered, but IBILE saved me. Without their help, I don’t know where I would be,” she told NAN.