The Nation Newspaper

Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

  • Celebrating an achiever

    Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment Permanent Secretary Dr Yakub Olajide Basorun has retired after a meritorious career, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    THE pillar of wealth creation and jobs in Lagos State, Dr Yakub Olajide Bashorun, has bowed out of service.

    Speaking at a valedictory held in his honour, the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf Basorun, said Basorun, who retired as Permanent Secretary (PS) in the ministry, was an administrator whose footprint in the public service would remain indelible considering the innovations that he initiated.

    According to her, Basorun contributed to the diversification of the economy and upgrade skill levels so that more people can participate productively in the labour market.

    She noted that the retired PS worked with her to develop programmes aimed at helping youths acquire skills to achieve personal entrepreneurial development.

    With Basorun’s support, she noted that the ministry had been able to grow small businesses.

    Former Commissioner for Agriculture and now Commissioner for Housing in Lagos State, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, extolled the PS’ punctuality to work and his work ethics.

    “He is known for his punctuality. At no time during the six years that we worked together, did he get to the office later than 8.00 a.m. He is intellectually competent. A multi-linguist, he speaks Polish, Russian, Yoruba and English fluently,’’ he said.

    He added that the good working relationship between them changed the perception of Lagosians, especially the youth who now see the sector as rewarding and attractive.

    “Our team work birthed innovation programmes and projects some of which include: the High-Quality cassava flour factory and Automated Feed Mill, Araga, Epe, the first-of-its-kind Pig Breeding Centre Gberigbe, Two Farm services in Oko-Oba and Badagry, the Imota Rice Mill and the Chicken Processing Centre at the Poultry Estate, Erikodo, the refrigerated meant vans and the Eko live animal vehicles for the use of Lagos butchers and cattle dealers, Eko Farmers Mart, among others,” Prince Gbolahan said.

    Also, the former Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, now Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti said: “It was a privilege working with Basorun to nurture the new Ministry (Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment). Memories of your vital insights, astuteness and commitment of excellence, saw the success of many of the initiatives embarked upon. Lagos State Government has benefited from your dedication to service.

    Lagos State Head of Service (HOS), Mrs. Folashade Adesoye described the retired PS as an administrator whose contributions impacted positively on major policy decisions, adding that the retiree would be missed by the government.

    The Head of Service added: “Dr. Basorun is a highly disciplined civil servant and a professional per excellence. He has demonstrated a high sense of commitment, loyalty, dedication and uncommon courage to confront challenges particularly during his tenure as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global) and Ministry of Wealth Creation.”

    Bashorun, who transferred his service to Lagos State in 1995, reached the zenith of his career in the civil service when he was appointed PS in 2010 and served in various ministries until his retirement as the longest serving PS after attaining 60 years.

  • How ex-student unionist found success in casual clothing business

    Akorede Awode, a former general secretary, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) students union, is setting a new path for aspiring young entrepreneurs, who want to join the industry, reports DANIEL ESSIET .

    Nobody imagined that Akorede Awode, a former Assistant General-Secretary, Students’ Union Government (SUG), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State would  go into fashion designing. His colleagues had expected him to pick up an appointment with local politicians, but instead, he went where his heart led him.

    Today, he is a success in fashion designing. He is now the Chief Executive, Clovis Casuals, a fashion business outfit   easy- to- wear casual clothing.

    He started as an undergraduate and has now become a runaway success, selling to shops and individuals. Growing up in Oyo State, he said, exposed him to many fashionistas, from who he discovered the love for fashion. That led him to take sewing classes even as a political science undergraduate at OAU. He was a huge advocate of being an entrepreneur.

    He wanted to have his own business and began to design and sell clothes while on campus. While at the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), he would rush to Ijebu-Ode, where he was undergoing training, to learn more tricks about his passion.

    Awode was doing that until he completed his national service in Port Harcourt, River State.  After the service year, Awode settled in Ibadan, bought a few sewing machines with his savings and launched the business officially. Customers’ reactions were overwhelmingly positive.

    His designs won him customers and helped him build a fast-growing, lean business in Ibadan.

    While his talent no doubt contributed to his success, other factors that helped him were his blood and sweat. Blood helped because it  took him a lot of passion and sacrifice, while sweat worked for him because of the time and hardwork put into the enterprise. His imagination and creativity equally worked for him.

    With fashion lovers eager to buy his designs, Awode is making money as a solo entrepreneur, with a turnover that is self-sustaining. But his ambitions stretch further still. He is doing a lot to be identified as one of the top young entrepreneurs in fashion business in Oyo State.

    His focus is to create easy-care clothes and offer merchandise of quality. His goal is to gain national reputation for professional expertise, sensitivity to current trends and ability to blend commercialism with innovation. He is scouting for trends to inspire new designs. Building a successful brand is a daunting challenge, which he looks forward to surmount.

    As a young fashion designer, Awode is aware of the power of e-commerce and he has built a successful online presence and high quality customer experience.  He is proactive about marketing his designs, using Facebook and instagram to get the word out.

  • Creating an enabling business environment

    Nigeria is working to improve its reputation as a secured environment for businesses. In line with this, Governor Akinwumi Ambode and others say transparency and accountability are key to sustaining businesses. They spoke at a one-day Forum of Accountants-General in Nigeria in Lagos, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Attracting and sustaining businesses have always been a key part of President MuhammaduBuhari-led adminstration’s campaign. And since he assumed office in 2015, he has emphasised the need to attract  and sustain businesses to create jobs and boost the economy. He has been vigorously renovating the business climate.

    Consequently, he inaugurated the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, (PEBEC) which adopted a 60-day Action Plan aimed at pushing ease of doing business reforms in the country.

    While the government has been working on overhauling the regulatory environment to make it easier for businesses to survive, older threats such as corruption still plays on the minds of international investors.

    If the nation is going to attract businesses to the various sectors of the economy, increased campaign to tackle corruption and promote accountability and transparency, experts said is necessary.

    Financial experts, who met in Lagos under the aegis of Forum of Accountant –Generals of Nigeria, said transparent financial reporting standards are essential for increasing foreign direct investment.

    Leading them, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode said a successful fight against  corruption is necessary for attracting investors  and  encouraging new businesses to grow the economy.

    Ambode, a former Accountant-General, said achieving economic and social development required continued efforts to address corruption.

    Represented by Commissioner for Finance, Akinyemi Ashade,the Governor  said  to make Lagos business -friendly destination,  he has taken series of steps to improve the ease of doing business.

    Among them are the “massive steps” in using new digital technologies for governance and making them beneficial to the people.

    He added that the state is  developing the local business ecosystem to help the economy remain vibrant.

    According to him, achieving better accountability and transparency in public accounting in Nigeria at all levels of government requires not just the strong political will of the leadership, but robust public financial management system that reflects global best practices.

    This, according to him, will be implemented by experienced Accountants-Generals.

    He stressed the need for states across the country to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a set of financial reporting standards to enforce transparent reporting so that the world’s markets have faith that the global flow of capital into the country is secure.

    He said Lagos State has made progress towards improving accountability and transparency and has pioneered the International Public Sector Accounting Standards in public accounting in Nigeria to bring the state’s accounting and reporting systems in line with global best practices.

    Ambode further advocated the use of technology in scaling up government processes, adding that it is key to ensuring open governance, promoting transparency, curbing corruption, empowering citizens and improving public service efficiency.

    Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris appealed to the Accountants-General across the states to join hands with President Buhari-led administration in nipping corruption in the bud.

    In a keynote address, the AGF identified monumental corruption as one of the factors responsible for citizens loss of faith in governments. Idris said: “As Accountants-General of your respective states, you occupy strategic positions in helping to establish and engender transparency, accountability, good governance and stability in our great nation. Therefore, you must act in public interest at all times, consistent with the requirements of legislation and government policies.”

    He added: “Accounting professionals help in no small measure in combating the opportunity and the cost of fraud and corruption, thus engendering accountability and transparency, which are sine-qua-non to good governance and essential elements of economic growth.”

    Idris explained that strong financial management, transparency, accountability and enhanced governance are essentials for sustainable, long term economic growth that benefit the citizenry and therefore, described the retreat, with theme bothering on transparency, accountability and governance in Nigeria, as “a patriotic act and a sign of their commitment towards national building”.

    According to him, over the years, there had been lack of trust in governments across the world, adding that citizens do not trust government in making sound decisions or doing the right thing at the right time.

    Consultant and Former Kwara State Accountant-General, Alhaji Tunde Abdulkareem said IFRS standards bring transparency, accountability and efficiency to financial markets around the world.

    He added that adopting IFRS standards in a comprehensive way often takes five to 10 years depending on the conditions and ability of each country, but that Nigeria has been able to achieve it within two years.

    Abdulkareem commended accountants-general for moving to implement accruals as part of major reform of its accounting system since 2016.

    He said foreign investors are still looking at corruption as major challenge when it comes to making investment decision.

    Adoption of international financial reporting standards, he said, will attract more foreign investment into the country.

    Earlier, Accountants-General forum Chairman, Akintayo Kolawole, explained that the retreat was meant to provide the forum opportunity to discuss ways of improving the internal reporting and workflow processes of states in order to improve transparency and accountability in public finance management in Nigeria.

    Kolawole said lack of transparency and accountability in the public sector portends a major risk to the global financial stability and long term economic sustainability. He added: “Citizens entrust government with their tax money and the entire resources of their countries to manage in the interest of the general public both immediate and the future, to secure lives and property, provide essential services and infrastructure. It is this element of trust that I would like to address today.”

    Principal Partner, Clement-Isah and Partners, Mr Clement Isah said lack of transparency is a hurdle for foreign investment. According to him, capital will flow to companies and organisations that can demonstrate a sound business model, transparency and corporate governance. He added that adopting proactively applying IFRS standards enhance transparency and corporate governance capabilities of states as well as remove barriers to inward investment.

  • AMEN seeks clusters to boost jobs, grow economy

    President, Association of  Micro Enterprises of Nigeria (AMEN), Prince  Saviour Iche,  has called  for more  industrial  clusters to allow small to medium sized enterprises grow and boost the  wider economy.

    Iche said collaboration and expert support offered to businesses within the cluster could produce more jobs across the country.

    By creating more clusters, he said, the government will ensure that SMEs  perform at their best as businesses could tap into a vast network of knowledge to resolve issues.

    Iche called on the Federal Government to consider the plight of its members evicted from the Industrial Development Centre, Ikorodu on account of ongoing renovation carried about by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

    According to him, the association was not against the move but that throwing its members outside the place after they have spent money repairing some facilities left some of the entrepreneurs stranded.

    Iche said there were areas within the facility that were not developed, adding that it would pay the agency to focus on those areas while allowing entrepreneurs to still operate where they had established small factories.

    He reiterated the association readiness to work with government at all levels to overcome challenges pertaining to sustainable economic growth.

     

  • Boosting employment, entrepreneurship

    Through a two-day career workshop in Lagos, Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC) has changed the game for jobless youths, honing their skills for the market and enhancing their employability. DANIEL ESSIET reports

    Youth unemployment is one of the most pressing challenges facing Nigeria. Over the last decade, the rate of youths between the ages of 15 and 24 in the labour market has been hovering around 30 percent – making it one of the highest in the world.

    Although a young labour force represents a source of great potential, governments at all levels are struggling to create opportunities for them.

    To solve the problem, Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC) last week held its Career workshop in Lagos.

    The event featured experts who looked at the problem and proffered solutions.

    Ahead of that, the Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said a skilled workforce was central to  economic revival.

    Mrs Akinbile-Yussuf, represented by the Head of Department of Employment of the ministry, Mrs Iyabo Seriki-Bello, reiterated  thegovernment‘s determination to ensure that education and training systems promote the employability skills that young people need.

    She said the ministry was organising a reorientation and employability skills training soon, adding that attendance was a requirement for the Graduate Internship Placement (GIP).

    She explained that GIP was a six-month programme that covers online application, selection and screenings as well as placement into various organisations in the state where interns were expected to translate their knowledge into practice.

    She praised KEC for planning the programme, adding that it was in line with the mandate of the ministry.

    According to her, the programme themed, Winning in the 21st century job market, was critical as youths need knowledge on how to search and secure lasting jobs and relevant skills for future work.

    Such skills, she said include critical thinking, reasoning and creative skills, passion for achievement and success, value, problem-solving and resourcefulness, team spirit, time management and curiosity.

    Centre for Entrepreneurship Knowledge Exchange founder and XL Africa Group Executive Chairman Charles Nwodo Jnr said the vision was to equip young people with entrepreneurial and employability skills.

    Nwodo, represented by Head, Group Business & Marketing Support, and Chizoba Onwuzolum said the KEC was established to fill the knowledge gap in development policy and social studies.

    He said its GIP is an intensive programme designed to equip fresh graduates with relevant workplace skills. The training involves both classroom and experiential learning methods to provide them with theoretical and practical knowledge which is missing in the university curriculum. The aim of the GIP is not only to enable the participants be employed but to acquire the necessary skills in their chosen career fields.

    According to him, KEC programme is supported by a broader strategy to develop career-ready graduates who are marketable in an increasingly competitive employment market.

    KEC Executive Secretary, Maria Glover said Nigeria is faced with growing employment crisis.

    She said: “There are 10 to 12 million youth entrants into the African labour market annually. By 2020,only one in four youths in Africa would find a wage paying job and by which time the population of unemployed youths is expected to rise to 200 million. This population of youth represent a group of extremely brilliant people capable of contributing to the development of the continent.”

    She added: “In Nigeria, the case is not better as 1.9 million graduates enter the already saturated labour market. As at the third quarter of 2017, the labour force population increased to 85.1 million from 83.9 million in the second quarter of the year. The number of unemployed/underemployed people stands at 18 million and 31.8 per cent of this figure constitute unemployed graduates.”

    To ensure that Nigeria has the graduates and skills needed to meet its goal of becoming a high-income, knowledge-based economy, the executive secretary said the organisation was taking significant steps to produce “industry ready” graduates through an approach involving greater career awareness, industry exposure, and enhancing skills for employability.

    She expressed concern that graduates are ill-prepared, urging them to use the forum to gain new knowledge and skills.

    According to her, the organisation’s Graduate Advancement Programme (GAP) is aimed at helping youths gain employment.

    She said 400 people have either acquired job skills or built a business after graduating from KEC.

    She explained that KEC works with partners on employment and entrepreneurs.

    Having etched their names as successful business people and entrepreneurs in their industries, the panelists shared their journey to pursuing their passions and how they overcame the challenges head on to achieve their goals.

    Aside from hearing the remarkable stories of the panelists, participants in attendance had the opportunity to engage with the panelists during the question and answer session which proved to be both inspiring and insightful.

    Participants of the programme are guided on how to write resumes, send job applications, and how to conduct themselves during interviews. There was a motivational talk for the participants.

    One of the beneficiaries is Adeyemi Seun, a graduate of Quantity Surveying of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State.

    He praised KEC for helping to alleviate poverty and create jobs for youths.

    Since graduation, Seun had challenges on getting a job. He felt hopeless. But after attending the workshop, he told The Nation that programme helped him assess his weaknesses and why he had been successful in his job hunts.

    He said such programmes have a key role in helping graduates find jobs.

    He told The Nation he was encouraged to take advantage of job opportunities.

    Another beneficiary and Caleb University’s Microbiology graduate, Miss Fiyin Olaniyan, said she was prepared to embrace and embark on entrepreneurship once she get a job and work for some years.

    She said the training came at the right time to enable her to be self-employed.

    For watchers, Lagos is experiencing a staggering youth boom, with more than half of the 20million people in the state who are under 20. This is a huge proportion of young people who have the potential to significantly boost the prosperity, stability, and well-being and create a future in which they will thrive.

  • Exploring business opportunities

    Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Pan-Atlantic University, has launched SME Toolkit, a one-stop online information centre in Lagos. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), the enterprise unit of the Pan-Atlantic University, which seeks an integrated approach to entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, has launched its new SME Toolkit website http://smetoolkit.ng, a one-stop online information centre for SME development in Lagos.

    The development of the SME Toolkit was due to the sunset of the old SME Toolkit Nigeria site, which was developed in 2003 by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), but managed by EDC.

    At the event titled: Technology, growth & markets, EDC Director Peter Bamkole said the youth were taking steps to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. This has led to numerous startups mushrooming in the last decade. The results, he noted, has been phenomenal.

    According to him, young Nigerians are doing great things, using technology to build solutions. He said this was the ideal time to launch this kind of initiative.

    He was impressed by young Nigerians’ persistence to make things work, despite hurdles on their ways.

    According to him, the young founders are technologically-sound.

    Promoters of five technology-driven businesses spoke on how they had leveraged technology for business growth and market expansion.

    These include Flutterwave Senior Executive, Muyiwa Faulkner; Farmcrowdy co-founder, Onyeka Akumah; EzraPearl Online Lead Strategist, Olatomi Kolawole; Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Edo State Governor on Skill Development and Job creation, Ukinebo Dare; and Printivo Co-Founder, Oluyomi Ojo.

    Faulkner said Flutterwave has developed solutions to make it easy for small businesses to receive payments from domestic and international transactions.

    He said Flutterwave has created an online resource for would-be entrepreneurs to explore and do business with the online community.

    ”You don’t have to be the one to build the technology, you just have to learn how to use it and leverage on it.”

    Akumah said his firm’s vision is to provide food security by making agricultural technology available.

    According to him, his organisation has partnered investors to raise money for farmers. He had been involved in other business development opportunities. He urged entrepreneurs to create local and global products and services, adding that there were opportunities for new entrants to make money by solving problems using technology. “You have to localise your idea because your business needs to meet the requirement of the terrain you are playing in,” he said.

    Ojo said the emerging generation of young entrepreneurs were embracing technology more than ever.

    He added that recent technologies have created newer business opportunities and that online channels are important for businesses to be attractive to their customers.

    He urged tech entrepreneurs to identify real problems and use technology to create solutions.

    Kolawole said there were opportunities for small business using the digital space.  “If you scale on technology, you build faster,” he said.

    In the last 10 years, EDC and IFC have managed the SMEToolkit. Last year, EDC completed the new SMEToolkit with the support of the MasterCard Foundation.

    With almost 50,000 registered users, the new SMEToolkit introduced features that make it more user-friendly, such as business development service component, online registration portal for assessing applications, SMEToolkit Learn (E-learning) and introduction of the SMEToolkit Bootcamps for young entrepreneurs, among others.

    The customised mobile SME toolkit will be the first of its resource to be launched in Nigeria. The application is downloadable on all smartphones and is accessible to small and growing businesses.

  • African officials commit to unleash skills revolution for youth

    African high-level officials and other stakeholders met in Tunisia’s capital Tunis, to discuss ways of upscaling skills development and decent job opportunities for the youth on the continent.

    The two-day forum named: “Digital Skills Forum for African Youth”, focussed on ways of equipping young Africans with the necessary skills to make use of new and emerging technologies in order to access jobs or become self-employed. In attendance were African ministers of education and vocational training, youth organisations, research institutions and development partners.

    Egyptian Deputy Minister for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Dr Ahmed Elgeushey, told Digital Skills Forum for African Youth: “It is time to improve the future of Africa’s youth by closing the skills gap between supply and demand, and ensuring that young people, women and people with disability, receive equal and specialised 21st Century skills training needed for employment and entrepreneurship. We need to respond to this challenge by professionalising technical and vocational education and training [TVET], adopting promising solutions, and replicating best practices across the continent.”

    African Union (AU) Commissioner representative, Mr Nicholas Ouma said:  ”The African Union has developed the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) and TVET Strategy to foster youth employment which provides concrete recommendations to address policy issues, challenges and gaps that can be aligned to national needs and priorities.”

    Africa has the youngest population in the world and is the second largest populated continent on earth. It is estimated that 60 per cent of Africans under the age of 25 do not have jobs.

    Accordingly, youth unemployment is a development challenge the continent should address in a systematic and coordinated manner.

    ”As the continent grows, it is an opportunity to invest in Africa’s current and future workforce, and to prepare young people with market orientated practical skills and know-how needed to drive growth of African economies,” Chief Executive, The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)Agency, Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki,  said in a message sent to the participants.

    In support of this pledge, the African Union Commission (AUC), NEPAD Agency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) financed through the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development developed the Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA).

    The initiative aims to promote and replicate successful practices and African solutions that contribute to decent employment, skills development and youth participation in entrepreneurship. It does this by providing financial and technical support to skills development initiatives in African countries.

    The message by Director GIZ Office to the African Union, Dr Inge Baumgarten, read as follows: “Africa is by far the youngest continent on the globe. Having a young population can be challenging but also offers a huge opportunity to the African nations.

    “If a young workforce – young men and young women – can be offered a good education as well as productive jobs, both the people and the state will have a prosperous future. Worldwide innovation and productivity in the economies are directly linked to skilled and creative people, and opportunities to do business. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to invest in young people, their education, skills and employment, as we do with our programmes, to create better future prospects for Africa’s youth.”

     

     

     

     

  • Building leaders in fashion business

    The Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, in conjunction with the Lagos State Tailors & Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (LASTFADAN), has held a leadership training workshop for fashion entrepreneurs. It brought together stakeholders in the industry. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    It was a completely different gathering of fashion industry experts. It brought together movers of the industry and united them with the big thinkers and inspiring people shaping the wider world.

    From the entrance of the venue of the event, to the host and speakers, the event had insightful and knowledgeable tips for future fashion entrepreneurs and  leaders at various levels of  Lagos State Tailors &Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (LASTFADAN).

    Head of Entrepreneurship Department, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation  and Employment, Mrs Taiwo Abiose,  said the goal of the government is to support and cultivate local designers  to  use their talent to help fuel economic growth.

    An officer of the department, Babatunde Dauda, who represented Mrs Abiose, said the training aimed at increasing leadership skills among officers of the state fashion designers association.

    She said the government was collaborating with the association to produce leaders with the skills needed on their jobs.

    Her view was supported by LASTFADAN, Chief (Mrs) Jariat Amida, who added that  leadership skills are critical  throughout the fashion value chain. The elderly woman has mastered the art of building a legacy, keeping up with the fast-paced and changing fashion industry.

    According to her, fashion is a vibrant and flourishing industry with a wide range of career opportunities, adding that fashion can indeed, help lift people out of poverty. She said efforts must be made to inspire young hopefuls.

    The focus, she said, is on combining knowledge of fashion with understanding of the business management if they want to make a success oftheir careers.

    She noted that aspiring young fashion designers’ successes can be    measured by their creativity.

    NISREL Consulting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ope Amusan, said the most brilliant characteristic of a remarkable industry leader is that they are willing to cross the realms of their comfort zone and think according to the trend-setting culture.

    According to him, successful business leaders always aim at setting the standards high for anyone to compete, adding that fashion designers have the opportunity to offer top-notch designs, which emerging fashion designers must emulate to overcome the challenges of reaching their markets. “First of all, you have to produce quality designs,”he said, pointing out the need for improved operational capacity needed to meet delivery orders on time. “If fashion designers manage to overcome this challenge, the industry has a fantastic future,” he said.

    He emphasised the need to ensure that quality requirements and standards are met by producers. The event also featured discussants, who provided the audience with inside view of leadership and its impact on the fashion value chain.

    They, however, highlighted lack of business skills and entrepreneurial training as some of the key challenges faced by fashion designers and the fashion industry as a whole.

  • Kwara indigenes undergo training in solar light, entrepreneurship

    Twenty-five indigenes of Kwara State are undergoing  training in solar light installation and entrepreneurship at the International Vocational Technical and Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC) in Ajase-Ipo, Kwara State.

    The Acting Rector of the college, Dr Ade Somide, who disclosed this while declaring the training open in Ajase-Ipo in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, said the training was in partnership with  Riccortezza-Asteven Energy Ltd.

    The energy company is handling the “Light-up Kwara” project in collaboration with the state government.

    He commended the company for being socially and environmentally responsible. “The company has put in place start-up business package for the participants worth one million naira each at the end of the exercise.

    “All necessary apparatus have been provided by the IVTEC and the energy company for the students.

    “The selected participants will be trained for two weeks in Kwara, before moving them to Ogun State for one week training by the energy company,” Somide said.

    He expressed gratitude to the state government for partnering the energy company, describing the gestures as a way forward to minimising youth restiveness in the state.

    Riccortezza-Asteven Energy Limited Managing Director, Dr Dickson Aleroh,  described the training as a way of giving back to the society.

    He urged the participants to take full advantage of the training, adding that the programme was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

    The registrar of the college, Mr Sunday Ade-Bello, revealed that the training would be on solar photovoltaic, installation, troubleshooting, maintenance and other entrepreneurship courses.

    One of the trainees, Rachael Atolagbe, commended the sponsors  for remembering the indigenes of the state to help to alleviate poverty and create jobs for the youths.

    Another beneficiary, Ajibola Oluwaseun, said the training came at the right time to enable them be self employed in view of the high rate of unemployment and the economic situation in the country.

  • 3069 Delta youths benefit from job creation schemes

    ABOUT 3,069 Delta State youths have benefitted from the state Skill Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) and the Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP). The state Chief Job Creation Officer, Prof. Eric Eboh, has said.

    Eboh, who disclosed this during the distribution of starter packs to the 81 beneficiaries in the first batch of the “Brown” STEP training in Asaba, said the entrepreneurship training programme had qualified them to own starter parks and run their own businesses.

    According to him, there were 582 beneficiaries of STEP in all, who had acquired vocational skills on their personal volition, but were selected and supported through a refresher training programme.

    The state, Eboh said, had transformed the lives of the youths by creating means of livelihood for them through the programmes.

    He  said the programmes has also achieved significant successes, noting that other states in the country are now adopting the model to train and create employment for their youths.

    In recognition of the desirability and success of the programmes, he said the World Bank has been providing financial support for them through State Employment and Expenditure for Result (SEEFOR) project.

    He said: “Currently, the scheme is running its third straight cycle, in line with the vision, determination and leadership of Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa.”

    The wife of the governor, Dame Edith Okowa, in her remarks,  commended the beneficiaries and urged them to embrace handwork and be committed to their businesses.

    She urged them to make good use of the skills they acquired and be grateful to God for being among the beneficiaries.

    Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Miss Merit Obarakpor, who was trained in fashion design and tailoring, commended the state government for the gesture.

    Obarakpor assured that they would use the starter packs to promote and expand their businesses.