Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

Many graduates find it difficult getting a job. Reason: they do not have employable skills. To address the challenge, Lagos State Government has began its Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) to help them in their job hunt. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Despite its impressive economic growth, Lagos, like many states, is confronted with youth unemployment challenge.  Majority of the youth, who are employed, are engaged mainly in wholesale and retail businesses, as well as very low-productivity service areas.  This is because the levels of education and skills required for gainful employment are lacking in them.

To address this, the Lagos State Government has taken a bold step in identifing graduate internship as a priority area and launched its Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS).

The main objectives of the programme are  to provide the youth with employable skills, offer them work experience after mandatory national service, and provide opportunities through various modules.

Its Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, said the state’s economy continued growth would depend on the quality of its workforce, adding that industries would need a steady supply of skilled workers, who have the credentials and workplace training.

He added, however, that one of the challenges the economy faced is preparing young graduates for jobs in sectors as the economy begins to recover.

According to him, investing in training will give job seekers, of all ages, the skills needed to open doors to economic mobility, and at the same time build the skilled workforce the state will need to thrive.

Lagos State, Durosinmi-Etti said, is supporting every  effort  to  build demand-driven workforce development systems, and prepare youths for careers in high-demand occupations.

The GIS, he explained, is designed to help all underprepared graduates have the skills needed to connect job opportunities, adding that about 2000 will be trained this year.

A  three-month programme, designed to  produce graduates, who are ready for the job market, the commissioner  said would equip  graduate interns with necessary tools to improve on their knowledge, skills and character attributes in corporate organisation.

According to him, the internship is one of the great ways to develop workplace knowledge, transferable skills and useful contacts.

The commissioner stressed that  work experience and internships are keys to  graduates getting  jobs,  as they give  interns   opportunities to gain an insight into the inner workings of a company, as well as to assess their predicted career progression.

To avoid rejection at work place, Durosinmi-Etti said young graduates need to focus their  energies on seeking relevant work experience and internships.This is because   workplace experience makes one’s CV stand out and show that one can apply oneself in a range of different roles and fields.  He noted that while qualifications are important, attitude, personality and values are essential factors recruiters consider when connecting candidates to companies.

Lagos State Ministry of  Wealth Creation and Employment Permanent Secretary, Dr. Yakub Olajide Bashorun said the programme  seeks to equip young graduates with employability and leadership skills, combined with the practical experience necessary to work, lead and contribute to development and growth.

He explained that  a broad range of partners in the private sector, have been mobilised to offer placements and training as part of the programme.

Consultant on the project and Managing Director,  Mac Tay Consulting firm, Mrs Lizzy Rotimi  pledged  the  her company’s determination to assist the state to achieve the goal of the scheme, which she said is for unemployed graduates to acquire employable skills.

According to her, the training is an opportunity for graduate interns to gain employment in organisations where they worked, as well as others, or to be self-employed.

With the high quality of ambitious graduates, who registered  with Mac Tay, the consulting firm,  it means that clients, who range from start-ups to big brands,  can make quick decisions about who to hire.

As  an incentive,  three outstanding winners  emerged from the test  conducted to select candidates for the programme.

The winners were Omoarukhe Oladele, a Geology graduate of the University of Ibadan; Olaoluwa Odunuga, a Mechanical Engineering graduate of the University of Ilorin, and Chidinma Obiagwu, a Production Engineering graduate from the University of Benin. They were the best among 500 finalists chosen for the first batch. Each of them will take home N100,000 apart from participating in the scheme.

While on internship, each participant will be given a stipend of N25,000.

Oladele hopes his experience will improve his employment prospects. “Trying to get a job is a nightmare,”he said. He  highlighted competition as the main reason for graduate unemployment. While thanking Lagos State government, he hopes he secures job. The experience, he said, will hopefully make him a good candidate for potential employers.

According to Miss Obiagwu and Odunuga, the internship programme will help them to be  more employable as both have  been looking for jobs since they graduated.

Agro businesses are springing up. They do not only want to make money; they want to create jobs too. One of them is Crest-Agro Products Limited. Its Chief Operations Officer, Leonard Ebute, says his target is to create 100,000 jobs. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Chief Operations Officer, Crest-Agro Products Limited, Leonard Ebute, is a successful agro entrepreneur. He emphasises attention to detail and prides himself on having the instinct for spotting innovative business solutions that suit market needs.

Armed with an MBA from the Lagos Business School and a wealth of experience from multinational companies, Ebute quit his job as Head, Supply Chain,  Kimberly Clark West, to start his own businesses. He did not set out to farm. He got involved in agriculture when he saw the opportunity for solving a value chain problem for multinational companies — cassava starch.

Added to this was an increase in demand by bakeries, paint factories and pharmaceutical industries exploring local supply of high-quality cassava. The initial plan was to set up a starch plant in an area that has sufficient roots to drive sustainable production. When his team members drilled further, they saw the major risk – the reliability of subsistence farmers to supply the product. To hedge the supply risk, they decided to farm.

He said Crest-Agro Products Limited started in 2013. Today, the farm employs a large workforce.  he cultivates, processes, packages and markets cassava. His company sells in tonnes to wholesale buyers and millers. Through the group, Ebute hopes to create business opportunities in the agricultural sector by operating in  key areas of the industry.

Like any entrepreneur, he has encountered challenges. With farming, he said every single day holds its own store of opportunities and challenges. The biggest challenge, according to him, is not operational as they expected, but security. This notwithstanding, he has proved that nothing is impossible and that farming is good.

Ebute, who has become an expert in cassava growing, says early land preparation and planting will guarantee a cassava farmer good yields. In business, Ebute said cash is king. He  explained that one  can have great ideas, but if one  do not have the cash to execute the idea, it will die. For him, the elements that make up a successful business are a good idea, plus a good plan and team and rigorous implementation. He has  had tremendous mentors and worked alongside top  experts  who are captains of major industries. These foundations have served as an inspiration to open doors to start his own venture. He believes entrepreneurs are grown into their own businesses either by economic reasons, passion, a relentless will power and a dream to succeed. Looking ahead, he  sees  immense opportunities for the agribusiness industry to contribute to Nigeria ’s economic development if the sector is well organised and developed. His advice to the young generation is: ‘Be honest in business and believe in your dreams. Everything is possible if you have strong determination.’

The Central Bank of Nigeria Southsouth Entrepreneurship programme is producing many change makers. The change makers are meeting the needs of Nigerians, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

In a community of Ikwuano in Abia State, bees – which some perceive as harmful, are prominent. But for Chinonso Agbo and his partner, Kingsley Nwogu, the bees present a golden opportunity to create wealth and impact their local community.

After graduating as an agronomist from the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Chinonso set out to use the knowledge he acquired in school to produce honey. To achieve this, he teamed up with another agronomist; they started Patnon Gate Farm, which produces natural honey – aptly earning him the nickname, the Bee King.

From the business’ inception in 2015, the sojourn was rough until he took a break to study how to restructure his business for better profitability. That was how he encountered Southsouth Entrepreneurship Development.

While undergoing training at the centre, Chinonso discovered that most of the little things he neglected in the past actually contributed to the poor business management and losses.

Armed with the new knowledge and exposure, he restructured his product packaging and relationships with customers, this led to improved sales.

He didn’t stop at that; he improved his management skills by getting the local communities involved in the process of bee gathering.

He taught the locals how to safely attract bees and sale to him. With this approach, he has a steady supply of bees which means more production.

Due to improvement in the business, his clients’ base includes buyers from Europe and other African countries.

Chinonso said: “My engagement with SSEDC was the biggest game changer in the business as I was exposed to business plan development and management, customer relationship and leadership skills. But perhaps the most impactful for me was the Popup market – where we were grouped and asked to sale certain products to customers to taste our marketing skills and team work – this was an eye opener for me and the lesson I learnt is what has turned Patnon Gate Farm around”.

The farm has six permanent members of staff and over 50 contract workers. It has improved farming yield of other local farmers as their bees serve as pollinators. In addition to that, it has trained over 110 persons in the community and recently partnered NDDC to extend the training to other communities.

For Chinonso and his partner, their long-term plan is to build the largest apiary in the country, supplying healthy honey to customers. “We are committed to act as one of the catalysts that allow digital entrepreneurship and economic development to thrive across the continent.’’

Another success story is that of the Chief Executive, Chinelle World, Emmanuella Agwu.

Growing up for Emmanuella was fun – made so by her love for designing and coming up with various styles.

The dress she made for her birthday was the turning point as people kept asking her to make a similar dress. That was the first sign of what was to come years later. After graduating from the University of Calabar where she studied Extension, & Social Development, she abandoned her passion to start a promising career in banking. But her dream of a successful career in the industry was shattered after the bank collapsed, no thanks to recapitalisation. This gave birth to Chinelle World – a one-stop fashion house that offers ready-to-wear dresses, image illustration, fashion consultation, fashion styling, fabric retailing and training.

Emmanuella started sewing commercially from her house and gradually built a reliable client base through referrals. In 2014, she enrolled for the Southsouth Entrepreneurship Development programme in order to enhance her business management and structure.

She said: “My encounter with the Southsouth EDC was very interesting because though I was already good at what I do but wasn’t getting proper reward for it, so the programme helped me redefined and restructure the business and opened my eyes to the most important aspect of business which are record keeping, effective pricing and offering superior customer service. She said “I was equally hoping to get financial support from the Centre which didn’t materialised, but I learnt the importance of dreaming big but starting small and the rest is history to the glory of God”.

Today, the beautiful mother of two from Cross River State has built Chinelle World fashion house to employ four staff in addition to some contract staff and has a sprawling showroom at the most popular Marian Road, Calabar. Her clients know her for only one thing – exquisite designs with strict attention to details. For Emmanuella, “we are still incubating and will soon grow into a global brand, the next phase of Chinelle World is rapid expansion into other cities and featuring in leading fashion stores”.

For every heavy-duty equipment, there’s a mechanic. This has created money-making opportunities for those in maintenance and repairs. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Diesel engines power trucks, maritime vessels, earth-mowers, forklifts and trailers.

It’s a large market, where there are engine repair/rebuild jobs. As long as heavy machinery are needed for construction, transportation, and farming, the commerce and trucking industries will need mechanics.

The key to making money in diesel engine repairs, according to the Chief Operating Officer, Automedics Limited, Gbola Oba, is to find a niche, or an area that is being underserved.

According to him, customers are attracted to shops that  offer services or expertise that others don’t. Profitable niches, he said, include repairs of industrial, marine and truck fleets’ diesel engines. Forklifts, generators, engines for oil rigs, and those that power trucks are also included. He explained that the market requires specialty and experience.

He noted that nothing stopped an automotive engine repairer from delving into heavy-duty diesel and servicing industrial markets which  include mining, marine, stationary power and oil and gas.

Each of the markets has high-demand. They are quality-driven markets where engine reliability takes precedence over price.

According to him, top-level field mechanics are confident of their skills and have a positive attitude to work. Many of them are unserious students in school, but who blossomed late.

Chief  Executive, Garu Tech, Alhaji Lukuman Garu,  said his firm   offers  diagnostics  software,  which  works with  diesel technology.

He urged automotive shops and small and medium scale enterprises (SMES) to diversify into some areas that are lucrative.

However, he agreed with Oba’s call for training. He recommends proper and specific training. He said the marine market has also been lucrative; so, too, has been industrial and farm field work.

He said the market is very competitive. He noted that many fleet owners do not carry out regular maintenance of their trucks.

His firm, he added, has close ties with companies which need qualified workers, adding that there is a job awaiting such mechanics.