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Tag: entrepreneurial skills

  • FCT to boost students’ entrepreneurial skills through AI

    FCT to boost students’ entrepreneurial skills through AI

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has reaffirmed its commitment to harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to grow the entrepreneurial skills of young people within the Territory.

    Speaking in Abuja at the grand finale of FCT School Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Exhibition and Award, the Executive Secretary of FCT Education Secretariat, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, said the competition was targeted at making the education system a hub of practical learning.

    He said, “This initiative is not just a programme, it is a movement to position our educational system as a hub of practical learning and real-world problem-solving. The theme for this year, “Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Enhance Entrepreneurship,” could not be timelier.

    “In a world that is changing at the speed of thought, AI is not just a luxury for advanced economies, it is a necessity for all, particularly for young minds in developing Nations like ours.

    “We can build smarter businesses, create faster solutions, and unleash innovation that transforms how we work, learn, and live. As we celebrate today’s young entrepreneurs, let us reflect on the fact that the future is already knocking.

    “The students are not just competitors in a school event; they are the future CEOs, tech founders, problem-solvers, and policymakers of Nigeria. What they need is our continued support, guidance, and most importantly, opportunities to grow”.

    Read Also: Board cautions against contraband luggage, as 425 FCT pilgrims return

    He assured that the administration was committed to fostering a curriculum that bridges classroom theory with real-world application.

    He said, “Through programmes like this, we are deliberately shifting education from passive consumption to active creation and we are saying to every child, your ideas matter. Your dreams are valid. And your creativity can build the future of this country”.

    The Director, FCT Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Olobashola Kolawole, said the initiative was born to nurture the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of young minds and equip them with the tools to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.

    “Today we are here to celebrate the spirit of enterprise, the power of creativity and the ingenuity of our students and also the unveiling of The Young Innovator’s Magazine; a platform dedicated to showcasing their brilliance and inspiring future generations.

    “The use of AI is not just a tool; it is a transformative force, and by harnessing its power, we can solve local and global challenges while creating sustainable opportunities. With the use of AI, the entrepreneurs can launch their product faster, cut costs and scale up their business in a smarter way.

    The FCT Head of School, Entrepreneurship, Dr. Udofia Enefiok, said the complex nature of the economy has made it clear that entrepreneurship is no longer a nicety, but a necessity.

    “The world needs innovative thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and bold risk-takers to drive growth, create jobs, and solve some of humanity’s most pressing challenges”.

    Government Science and Technical School, Garki, Area 3, Abuja, emerged first in the competition among the top ten finalists.

  • Why youths need entrepreneurial skills, by Baptist cleric

    President of Lagos Central Baptist Conference Dr Kehinde Babarinde has explained why youths need to imbibe entrepreneurial skills.

    He said acquisition of the skills will enable them to achieve their career and business goals.

    Babarinde, who is also the National Director of Leadership Initiative and Family Empowerment, stated there are basic elements of the model of business relationship that should be imbibed by youths.

    The relationship and business advisor postulated the LEARN model of business relationship.

    He said the learning model is a fundamental tool for development of business relationship through informational listening, interactive listening and critical listening.

    Babarinde spoke to a cross section of youths drawn from several institutions, churches and student fellowships across Lagos State during an empowerment seminar on development recently.

    He advised the youths to take up their faiths seriously to achieve their set goals in life

    He disclosed empathy, as one of the skills, is desirable to develop business relationship as value and trust are essential in dealing with people.

    He added reliability is the projector of business and as a result, youths should eschew mediocrity and become reliable and polite in their commitments.

    He challenged youths to possess strong negotiating skills which will further enable them to gain advantage in their professional and business pursuits.

    Babarinde, who bemoaned the rate at which youths live without concrete goals, urged them to embrace goal-centered business networking.

    He advised youths to develop goals in joining group of like- minded individuals, engage in meaningful and proactive social media relationship amongst others.

    He charged youths to be more result oriented in order to contribute meaningfully to nation building and economic development.

     

  • Building entrepreneurial skills in students while on campus

    With funding and right training, students can become job creators while still on campus. They do not necessarily have wait to finish and end up as job seekers. This is what Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA) is trying to achieve, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    From running garri processing business to offering extension services, students at Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA) are encouraged to launch fast growing agribusinesses.

    Besides extension services, the Provost, FECA, Dr  Samson Odedina, told reporters in Lagos that the institute has  trained the students on how to brand their products, whom to approach to get the correct market prices and funding and how to present and preserve their products to shield them from loses and poultry management aspects.

    Because of the value chain practical approach introduced into the curriculum, students undertaking classes did not have their minds entirely set for the lecture hall. Partly, they were thinking about their agribusinesses, which they run as side hustles within the campus.

    Through the business, they have been able to pay their bills. Their services include agribusiness development, consultancy and extension services in all fields of farming.

    Odedina said students need to utilise opportunities on campus to become job creators.

    For instance, he said the college created projects and ventures to equip students with business skills that they utilise when they leave college.

    According to him, the ventures are a great opportunity for students to develop business proposals and get grants, a skill many do not have.

    Whatever the amount of money the students make, he noted, that it belongs to them.

    Another opportunity provided the students, according to him, is to make good use of the experts at the college by seeking advice to sharpen their enterprise skills.

    He said the huge population at the college and Ondo State offers students a ready-made market for their products and services.

    Once they complete campus, the students leave to continue with their agribusinesses outside college, creating room for others.

    Odedina said he brought business orientation to agric education when he saw how disconnected students were to agriculture, how they were missing job opportunities, and how propaganda and misinformation were shaping their opinions.

    So he did something about it – he created a practical approach to help college students connect back to agriculture. And guess what? The class has had such a positive impact on its students.

    According to him, FECA, will continue its activities in stimulating youth to become successful agri-entrepreneurs through linking, learning and leadership activities.

  • Corps members urged to embrace entrepreneurial skills

    Corps members urged to embrace entrepreneurial skills

    No fewer than 2,044 graduates deployed to Anambra for the National Youth Service have been urged to embrace some of the various entrepreneurial skills that would be offered at the camp.

    Mr Ebenezer Olawale, the Coordinator of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Anambra, gave the advice during the swearing in ceremony of the 2017 Batch B Corps members at the Umunya Temporary Camp in Oyi Local Government Area.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2,044 corps members sworn in for the three-week orientation exercise comprised 802 male and 1242 female.

    “Skills acquisition sensitisation and training has been prioritised with more time allotted to it to deepen your entrepreneurial zeal and commitment in line with the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

    Olawale said officials from the Corporate Affairs Commission and NAFDAC would be at the camp to educate the corps members on modalities for registration of small and medium enterprises.

    He also said the Bank of Industry, Heritage Bank and Central Bank of Nigeria would also visit the camp to educate them on the funding procedure options available.

    The coordinator congratulated Gov. Willie Obiano on his victory at the polls and reminded him of his promise to expedite work on the permanent orientation camp at Mbauku-Umuawulu in Awka South Local Government area.

    He commended the corps members for their good behaviour since they reported to the camp and urged them to take all the activities in the camp seriously to further improve their knowledge and experience.

  • Honing the entrepreneurial skills of youths

    Honing the entrepreneurial skills of youths

    Funding entrepreneurs and empowering youths to contribute their quota to the economy remain Fidelity Bank Plc’s priorities. The lender is partnering with those interested in youth empowerment and is equipping youths with the entrepreneurial skills – to thrive in business. It has also committed human and financial resources to develop the right products and platforms needed by the youths to realise their goals, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    Entrepreneurship is the soul of every thriving economy, so is a productive youthful workforce. Hence, every lender with eye on the future and commitment to getting the economy out of the woods must contemplate entrepreneurship and wealth creation schemes driven by the youths.

    The need to stimulate the economy has become more pronounced now than ever, after the price of the country’s mono product, crude oil, crashed in the international market, throwing the economy into its first recession in over 25 years.

    Fidelity Bank Plc believes in the need to reverse the trend, by putting the economy on a sustainable growth path via entrepreneurship development and funding plan that gives priority to the youth.

    The Nation findings reveal that Fidelity Bank has stuck to this policy by consistently empowering youths with entrepreneurial skills needed to thrive in  highly competitive business landscape. This, the lender does, with strategic partnerships and knowledge sharing.

    For instance, the lender is in partnership with Empretec Nigerian Foundation to organise a graduate entrepreneurship programme in Calabar, the Cross Rivers State capital. Over 200 youths were trained on the theory and practice  of entrepreneurship.

    Mrs Onari Duke, wife of the former Cross River State governor   and founder of Empretec and Peter Egba, Commissioner of Commerce & Industry, Cross River State, were  on hand to kick off the programme.

    A capacity-building programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Empretec is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with a view to facilitating sustainable development and inclusive growth.

    The bank has also collaborated with Gazelle (Vocational Centre) Academy to introduce a national youth empowerment initiative. This empowerment programme, which is part of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, is primarily targeted at creating a new breed of entrepreneurs among the youth.

    Dubbed the Fidelity Youth Empowerment Academy (YEA), this unique programme is designed strategically to drive awareness as well as empower undergraduates with requisite entrepreneurial skills that will not only help them establish sustainable businesses but also eventually turn them into huge employers of labour.

    Our reporters gathered that the programme admits participants  free and monitors their progress post-event.

    Now in its third edition after successful outings at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State and the Federal University of Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, the programme has already left an indelible mark on youths in these institutions of higher learning.

    Last month, the bank, in collaboration with the Federal Polytechnic, Oko Venture, concluded an entrepreneurship training for 400 students in Anambra State. Organised under the YEA Stream 3, the week-long training programme was aimed at equipping the students with skills   to start businesses even in school. Some of the skill areas participants were trained on include: fashion, accessories, cocktail, tailoring, and makeup, shoe making, digital marketing.

     

    Youth Empowerment Academy to the rescue

    Speaking at the closing ceremony of the third edition of the Fidelity Youth Empowerment Academy (YEA) in Oko, Anambra State, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo, noted that the initiative seeks to empower the polytechnic community by creating thriving business ownership among students.

    This, he explained, is in furtherance of the financial institution’s quest to not only tackle the nation’s unemployment challenges, but improve the well-being of communities where it does business.

    Okonkwo urged the participants who had completed the programme aptly titled: ‘Turning your passion into pay cheque’ not to relent on building highly successful businesses.

    “I was impressed with your individual dedication and collective performance during training. Always motivate yourselves. You are indeed lucky to have been chosen as a participant.

    “I therefore challenge you to go out there and make a success out of this for yourselves and please remember that the right attitude and a strong will to succeed will take you far,” he added.

    Similarly, founder, Gazelle Academy, Muna Onuzo, praised the participants for their zeal and active participation as evidenced by the number of things ranging from sandals, clothing apparels, beadworks, cocktails that were made by the and on display for visitors who thronged the school to witness the closing ceremony.

    Onuzo, who noted that entrepreneurship, remains the most viable solution to the economic challenges, encouraged them to use the platform to gain financial freedom and self-reliance.

    “Go and make Fidelity Bank proud; go and make the Federal Polytechnic, Oko proud; go and make Gazzelle Academy proud,”  Onuzor said.

    In his address on the occasion, the Deputy Rector of the Polytechnic, Mrs Gladys Anene commended Fidelity Bank for the initiative calling on other financial institutions to emulate the bank in giving back to the society through laudable youth empowerment programmes like YEA3.

    From all indications, the bank remains committed to building the next generation of entrepreneurs. The bank’s long-term goal is to see some of these Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) transform into major corporations in the next few years.

    Sources close to the bank also revealed that the bank has committed significant human and financial resources into developing the right products and platforms needed to attain this objective.

    Besides, Fidelity Bank is building a new crop of young, dynamic and talented workforce through its graduate recruitment scheme.

    New inductees who passed out of the Fidelity Crest Academy after a rigorous three months training programme were admitted into the bank’s workforce at the weekend.

    Recruited early this year and sent  to the banking school, the new hires underwent an extensive training on the fundamentals of the banking business with course modules on culture, bank processes and products; fundamentals of banking business and personal effectiveness; comprehensive banking operations and understanding banking business; financial statement analysis and fundamentals of credit.

    Speaking at a cocktail to celebrate the graduates in Lagos, Okonkwo urged them to make use of the exposure and training to excel in their various job functions.

    He stated that the rationale for setting up the Fidelity Crest Academy was to have a banking school that will help in training and equipping staff with the right skills to excel at work and compete favourably in the market place.

    According to him, the bank places a great premium on its people and the academy was pivotal to grooming the next set of leaders of Fidelity Bank.

    “It is our desire to see a future CEO of Fidelity Bank from among you. We are committed to training you and giving you the right foundation to succeed. It is up to you to rise to the occasion and justify our investments in you,” he said.

     

    Place of youths in economic development

    The place of the youth in global economy is becoming clearer by the day. Taking up the reins of power at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt, America’s 32nd President never lost sight of the power of youths for socio-economic change. Roosevelt once said: “We cannot always build the future for our youths, but we can build our youth for the future.”

    Currently, the Nigerian economy is in dire straits as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the constant basic prices, contracted in the fourth quarter of last year by 1.30 percent after depreciating 2.24 per cent in the third quarter of last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    The situation presses home the point that Nigeria’s growth and exchange rate stability in the decade-and half from 2000 to 2014 had been entirely dependent on favorable global commodity cycles.

    Market analysts are of the view that weak commodity prices brought Nigeria’s growth to a very abrupt halt and inflicted heavy bouts of devaluation to the naira.

    It should be noted that Nigeria’s growth would have been more resilient if the country had a better rail transport and energy infrastructure that would have underpinned higher value addition in industry.

    To address this, many notable economists and financial experts have pointed to youth empowerment and entrepreneurship as Nigeria’s best option for wealth creation and economic growth. Today, a huge number of financial institutions in the country have rolled out countless, unsustainable youth empowerment projects with little or no impact.

  • “Entrepreneurial skills will minimise unemployment’

    Founder of Ajayi Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti State, Dr. Busayo Ajayi, has described entrepreneurial skills as the antidote to high rate of unemployment in Nigeria.

    Ajayi, who urged young graduates to always develop an entrepreneurship mindset for their personal advancement, also challenged Nigeria to learn how to run businesses through Information Communication Technology (ICT).

    He spoke during the institution’s maiden Inaugural lecture titled: ‘Entrepreneurship and Basics of Business Skills’ last week.

    Most Nigerian young graduates, Ajayi lamented, are either jobless or outright unemployable because they lack the necessary skills and training. “This is why Ajayi Polytechnic was born to address this shortfall,” the founder noted.

    Ajayi added: “Innovativeness means being proactive and being able to take risks. These are some of the characteristics of entrepreneurship, which the youths must develop.  It has to do with creating businesses and becoming an employer of labour in the larger business world.

    “Aside creating businesses and being employable through the entrepreneurial training, ICT knowledge will help them secure jobs in other countries while resident in Nigeria because we are now in a global world.”

    He said the institution is in partnership with Samsung and British Computer Society to enhance its training scope and confer international recognition on the institution.

    The institution’s Director of Learning, Mr. Tolu Fagbola, said the seminar was to help students know practical realities of businesses and entrepreneurship skills through ICT as the driving tool.

    Fagbola said: “Sixty per cent of Nigerians are connected to the Internet. There are real opportunities to help people understand how businesses are run today through ICT.

    “It (seminar) is to teach them how to connect business and entrepreneurship with ICT so that they can be globally competitive; to introduce them to businesses they can set up in their rooms and trade Internationally while making the most of business opportunities.

  • Improving youth entrepreneurial skills

    Improving youth entrepreneurial skills

    To usher in the next generation of change agents and leaders, the Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment is providing opportunities for youths to gain practical experience and entrepreneurial skills. This will, in turn, support youths to innovate, improve their commercial viability and catalyse economic transformation. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    THE Sabo Industrial area,Yaba, Lagos State, has been a leading player in the tech entrepreneurship industry by virtue of its strong technological background and capabilities. A crop of innovative startup entrepreneurs is filling up the area’s tech space.

    From applications aiming to automate small businesses, localised software to check for computer viruses, to mobile phone-based solutions that might put an end to chaotic elections, the mobile technology scene is simmering with activities, churning out solutions that can solve Nigeria’s and Africa’s challenges.

    Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, said the development of related industries in Yaba had also led to the creation of business opportunities and value-added services.  These include facilities that meet all industrial needs, such as online processing and services, virtual businesses, collaboration, e-commerce and large-scale data analysis and application.

    To this end, Durosinmi-Etti said the government would transform Yaba to a hub for technology and assist the already-established technology incubators in the area to achieve their potential. Some of the technology outfits in the area include Ardela, IDEA and Co-creation Hub (CC Hub). For instance, CcHUB is Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional, multi-purpose space where work to catalyse creative social tech ventures take place. The hub is a place for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers in and around Lagos to co-create new solutions to the many social problems in Nigeria.

    The rapid development of Yaba, the  Commissioner believes, would help accelerate the proliferation of new technologies; as such development would likely become an important issue in ensuring competitiveness. In line with this aspiration, the state government is partnering the Stanford University’s Graduate Business School and a select  stakeholders to develop and transform the city into a technology hub.

    The initiative, driven by the state government, is expected to, upon completion, revolutionise Yaba, identified as Nigeria’s tech city, into the country’s equivalent of Silicon Valley- a hub for technology entrepreneurs in the United States of America.

    According to him, the government is ready to provide incentives to attract investments to the industry.

    With the promise of governmental support to ensure uninterrupted utilities and efficient internet, the Commissioner said there were various special incentives for the investors, adding that Yaba ICT has become one of the priority projects for the government.

    He  said the ministry was training tradesmen and artisans to enhance their productivity and upgrade their skills.

    According to him, the government  is working  to  give skill training to the artisans in that informal industrial sector to help them meet modern challenges in the industry.

    He said the state is set to establish incubation centres to nurture ideas into sustainable businesses in the five divisions in the state.

    He added that the government is offering its support to small and medium companies and that it is leaving no stone unturned to creating a conducive environment to pave way for a flourishing industry.