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Tag: entrepreneurs

  • Lagos to entrepreneurs: create jobs, forge alliances

    The Lagos  State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, has called on young entrepreneurs to  build alliances  that will  position them  as  most important agents of economic growth.

    Speaking at a workshop of the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneur (C.A.Y.E), West Africa,  held in Lagos, Durosinmi–Etti said young entrepreneurs  could create jobs and  support innovation, urging them to  come up with strategies for building a regional young entrepreneurs’ alliance that will promote entrepreneurship and trade within the region and beyond.

    He added that governance is being redefined, as the government of Lagos State is creating an enabling environment in the state for businesses to strive, urging entrepreneurs to come up with  new businesses.

    Durosinmi-Etti said government is working across the sector to create  access to finance and market and called for micro chambers  of commerce and businesses to emerge  and collaborate  to deal with the issues confronting business owners and  proffer solutions to such concerns.

    The Director, Youth, Commonwealth Secretariat, Katherine Ellis said  entrepreneurship  among the young people is a key driver to developing human capital necessary for the future,  adding that unleashing of the economic potential of youth is important in building sustainable growth and poverty reduction.

    For most youth-owned businesses, she said that access to finance, a united voice to seek support together, and ease of doing business among the respective countries, are still challenging and bureaucratic.

    She added that as numbers of  young entrepreneurs grow, there was  a need for a bigger voice to articulate their need and  concerns which is not present in most African countries.

    This, according to her, has made the Youth Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat to support formation of alliances of youth entrepreneurs in order to ensure a bigger voice on issues that concerns them most and provide additional opportunities for learning and trade.

    Ellis said the workshop would focus on bringing potential stakeholders together, exploring the concept and viability of an alliance of young entrepreneurs in the region.

    The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr Abdul Ahmed Mustapha, told the young entrepreneurs from the West African region that the ministry is putting in place incentives that will make young businesses grow in the area of health, education and agriculture. Capital will be made available for the young business owners with innovative and creative business ideas via the Employment Trust Fund.

    He reiterated the commitment of the state government to create an enabling environment for the growth of businesses.

  • Women entrepreneurs trained on fertiliser use

    In line with the Federal Government’s Green Alternative Programme, the Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited, Eleme, Rivers State has held a training programme for female members of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) for South-south zone on use of fertiliser.

    While declaring the training programme open, the Head of Corporate Communications and Special Adviser to the Managing Director Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited, Dr Jossy Nkwocha said the exercise was meant to boost the application of fertiliser in the country as the trainees would, in turn, train others in its use.

    Nkwocha also said “the use of fertiliser would help Nigeria to solve the problem of food insecurity, boost agricultural production, reduce food imports and create wealth.”

    The Indorama’s spokesman also revealed that his organisation which began fertiliser production in June this year “now supplies urea fertiliser to over 20 million farmers across the country.”

    He added that the company has built a world-class fertiliser plant with capacity to produce 1.5 million metric tons of urea fertiliser; a port terminal at Onne Port in Rivers State and an 84 kilometer gas pipeline to supply gas to the plant.

    The total cost of these projects which has created more than 4,500 direct and indirect jobs in Nigeria, he said, is about 1.5 billion US dollars and was funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

    In a chat with Niger Delta Report, the Chairperson of NNEW, Mrs. Mercy Bello Abu said women who are entrepreneurs in the South-south are passionate about impacting on their environment and generation of successful business women and entrepreneurs.

    She said: “NNEW saw the need for the programme because most of our members who are engaged in agriculture indicated interest to partner with Indorama. They proposed to the company to train them so that they could sensitise other women to the importance and use of fertiliser.”

    While expressing gratitude to the management of Indorama for the free training, the NNEW chairperson added that “with this, we are going to train another group of women on the use of fertiliser.”

    The trainings, which covered fertiliser marketing, fertiliser application and entrepreneurship management, were anchored by Indorama’s Dr Surendra Srivastava; Dr Balbir Singh and Ms Sandrina Gomes respectively.

  • Grooming budding entrepreneurs

    Grooming budding entrepreneurs

    Fate Foundation, a Lagos-based entrepreneurship promotion organisation, has intensified efforts at fostering wealth and job creation. Through its Aspiring Entrepreneur Programmme (AEP), the organisation is horning the entrepreneurial skills of Nigerians to help them turn ideas into successful businesses. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    ate Foundation, a Lagos-based entrepreneurship promotion organisation, is poised to turn the dreams of  startup companies and existing entrepreneurs in the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs’) sector into reality. Already, one of the country’s leading entrepreneurs and thinkers, Sharon Akinroye, is benefiting from the organisation’s capacity building programme.

    Sharon is the  Founder/Executive Director, Juste Lunch,said the outfit is   a professional catering services company.  She  participated in the 34th class of Fate Foundation’s Aspiring Entrepreneur Programmme (AEP) where she came first in the Business Plan Competition and got free branding from USP Branding.

    Juste Lunch, which she founded in 2010 to provide lunch to school children, is now the toast of schools around the country. By attending the Fate Aspiring Entrepreneurs’ Programme, she has been able to refine her business idea and also build a business with the required structures and systems.

    Despite not studying food sciences or catering, Sharon, a 1998 graduate of Geograpgy from University of Ilorin, Kwara State, has been able to build a successful business.

    She started at age 18 while in her first year in the university. Narating how the journey started, Sharon recalled that her school was on strike and students were compelled to go home. While she was at home doing her routine reading in a bookstore, she said she noticed a lady walked into the shop and bought lots of books.

    Being an inquisitive person, she said she inquired from the lady why she bought such large number of books. She said it was then she  discovered that the lady was also an undergraduate, and was taking the books to school to sell.

    According to Sharon, this discovery was an inspiring and eye opening experience. Thereafter, she  used all her pocket money from home to buy books, which she sold to students when her school resumed later that year.

    Sharon even went a little further by adding other retail items to the busniess, such as eggs,  christmas cards and daily devotional, among others, to students in her school throughout her undergraduate days.

    Despite admitting that the experience has been fulfilling and financially rewarding, she said she  could not tell her parent about her entrepreneurial adventure because no one in her family had ever ventured into business. So, she wasn’t sure of how they would react.

    After graduation,  she was posted to Anambra State for the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) as a teacher in a Federal Government College. While serving, her entreprenurial instinct again opened her eyes to an opportunity to provide school books to students in her school.

    Upon the completion of her national youth service, she returned home to continue trading, often visiting Onitsha Market in Anambra State, to buy commodities for sale in Akure, Ondo State.

    Sometime in June, 2003, while attending a Parents Teachers’ Association meeting in her child’s school, she got an offer to make and supply school lunch to the pupils. This was where the caterinmg busniess took off.

    Sharon said she met a professional cook through the Funmi Iyanda’s programme on National Television Authority (NTA). It was through the professional cook platform she learnt the business of catering. She also got the  strength to start a structured business, which was a step ahead of the trading she had been doing.

    Within three  years, Akinroye expanded her school lunch catering business to two more schools.

    However, in 2006, she decided to sell her business to a friend when her family had to relocate to Johannesburg, South Africa where they stayed for four years before returning to Nigeria.

    While in Johannesburg, she continued to provide Nigerian meals, especially Ofada rice, as lunch to corporate offices and her Nigerian friends.

    According to her,  living in South Africa provided her the opportunity to build a strong network of business-minded friends, some of whom later contributed part of the capital she used to expand her business when she returned to Nigeria in 2010.

    It was in 2010 Sharon   participated in the Fate Foundation’s AEP that gave  her the extra mileage. She continued to run her business until 2012 when she had an unfortunate gas accident that kept her in the hospital for about six weeks. This made her unable to proceed to the second stage of the YouWin grant fund that year.

    However, shortly after that, a big break came in 2014 when she landed her biggest catering job ever. She has never looked back since then, as the offer continued to open more doors for bigger opportunities. For instance, that year, she led a team of 50 staff to provide catering services to over 2,000 guests at a funeral event in Osun staff.

    Again in 2015, the budding entrepreneur participated in the Women Entrepreneurial Leadership  (WELA) Programme.  On the strength of the programme,  she attended the China Europe International Business School in 2016. Through this programme, she got access to a business loan to expand her business and visited China to buy customised catering materials for her business.

    Today, Sharon provides school lunch to many schools across Lagos, including Corona Schools. She also operates a restaurant in Lekki, Lagos. With a staff strength of about 10 and over 50 contract staff, her business generates an annual revenue of about N25 million.

    However, Sharon is not the only budding entrepreneur benefiting from the foundation’s skills development programme. The Chief Executive, StreSERT Services Limited,  Mrs Roselyn Onalaja, is also counting herself lucky to be part of the programme.

    StreSERT Services Limited is a human resources consulting firm that specialises in recruitment, outsourcing, training and expatriate management.

    Onalaja, a 1986 graduate of Linquistics from University of Benin, is an alumnus of the foundation’s  entrepreneurship programme. She  attended Fate Foundation’s Emerging Entrepreneurs Programme (EEP) in 2006. This was still in the early days of her business and the programme equipped her with the skills needed to establish and run an organisation efficiently.

    The training was strategic for her, as it helped her focus and develop the organisation for improved performance

    Since inception, StreSERT has recruited, trained and seconded over 1000 personnel to various client organisations. With about 22 core staff members, the company serves over 30 corporate clients, with  annual revenues of N240 million

    Onalaja has always had the desire to impact and prepare others for success in whatever fields they  chose.

    Her prior work experience working with diverse people/teams and also stakeholders also further developed her natural gift and motivated her and her team of co-founders to take a bold step in 2006 to start StreSERT.

    The founding team led by Onalaja  leveraged on their experience and acquired skills from previously working with consulting firms to build the foundation of the company.

    With their personal savings and a loan of about N3 million, they were able to raise fund to start  the business. With this initial capital, they were able to take care of some of the startup expenses such as company registration, business plan, business cards as well as a two-year rent for an office space.

    With this method of raising capital, Onalaja  came to appreciate better the importance of partnership and networking, as these have provided her team with divergence and flexibility of skills, competencies and expertise. These in turn resulted in quick growth, and has helped to expand her business relationships and opportunity for knowledge sharing.

    Executive Director, Fate Foundation, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi, said the organisation was determined to help entrepreneurs  develop an idea into innovation. She also said the foundation plans to help propel startups into real businesses and also scale it up to create meaningful impacts on society.

    She explained that one idea that emerged from the foundation’s recent efforts was the creation of an innovation and entrepreneurship concentration. In addition to training, she said the foundation offers aspiring entrepreneurs access to intelligent peers and mentors, and a risk-free testing ground for their ideas.

  • Shell JV funds Ogoni entrepreneurs

    The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joint Venture has trained another 60 youths in entrepreneurship skills, business planning, management and pitching. This is to consolidate its employment generation initiatives in Ogoniland.

    Fifty of the trainees who succeeded in the final assessment received start-up funds for their business ideas under the Shell’s LiveWIRE Nigeria programme. The youths were from the four Ogoni local governments of Gokana, Tai, Eleme and Khana, in Rivers State.

    At the graduation ceremony held in Port Harcourt, six beneficiaries of a similar programme in 2015 received ‘The Young Business Leaders’ award for being outstanding in their businesses said Shell’s spokesman, Bamidele Odugbesan.

    “We’re pleased that the LiveWIRE programme has continued to make positive impact not only on the lives of the latest beneficiaries but also on youths in the Niger Delta,” said Igo Weli, General Manager External Relations, in a speech at the ceremony.

    “Like in previous sets, these beneficiaries went through the entrepreneurship training, wrote business plans, pitched their business ideas and in the end, the 50 best performing candidates were selected. With the start-up grants we’re handing out, the stage is set for a new army of business owners and potential employers of labour to emerge in Ogoniland,” Weli added.

    His comments echoed a scenario where more than 70 per cent of the 105 youths that benefited from a similar programme in 2015 are already successful business owners and employers of labour, Odugbesan said.

    The Director, Enterprise and Promotion in the Rivers State Ministry of Youth Development, Christian Bogba said: “I pray that other companies borrow a leaf from what the SPDC Joint Venture have done today by contributing to the improvement of the economic wellbeing of the people and promote peace.”

    Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, Godwin Giniwa, and the representative of King of Gokana, Aagba Kpee, thanked SPDC and its joint venture partners for providing the young entrepreneurs mentorship to see them through the critical take-off period of their businesses and encouraged youths to seize opportunities of programmes such as LiveWIRE to improve their quality of life.

    A total of 6,350 youths from the Niger Delta have been trained since SPDC introduced the LiveWIRE Nigeria programme in 2003, with 50 per cent of them assisted to become business owners and employers of labour. The programme has earned international and local recognitions.

    The Ogoni-specific programme was driven by the aspiration to address one of the recommendations of the UNEP Report on the restoration of the Ogoni environment, as the LiveWIRE initiative aims to encourage youths in the area to shun illegitimate sources of income such as illegal refining of crude oil.

  • Helping entrepreneurs achieve exports success

    Helping entrepreneurs achieve exports success

    With export opportunities opening globally, a Lagos- based entrepreneur, Gordon Ogoro, is mounting a campaign to get more agri-entrepreneurs explore foreign markets and earn foreign exchange.

    Exporting is a key route to strong and sustainable growth in the farming and food sector.

    Improved export growth, according to a Lagos- based entrepreneur, Gordon Ogoro, can deliver tangible results to assist in unlocking the nation’s agricultural potential for economic growth and food security.

    Ogoro who is the Chief Executive, Ufoma Exports/Imports Agencies Limited,said markets are openings  to export fruit and vegetables.  These include popular foods such as okra,  peppers, mangoes, green beans, melons, tropical products and oil seeds such as sesame, cashew and cocoa.   He operates an export agent.  He  has helped many Nigerians carry out successful export business  which resulted in good profits.

    Ogoro provides assistance to enable Nigerians comply with  documentations to export fresh fruit and vegetables to Europe and the United States. Ogoro wants to work with groups to guide them toward successful horticultural entrepreneurship. He is ready to partner and encourage budding entrepreneurs to explore the sector by exporting  quality certified  producer   for profit.  He said it is a win-win deal for young people seeking a reliable source of income and for local smallfarmers.

    While food exports business is a longer-term opportunity with high value at stake, he said there are challenging implementation requirements.

    To increase exports, he said Nigerians  needed  to maintain reputation for safe food,and trusted market assurances.

    With the European Union (EU) thoroughness and obsession with quality standards, he said businesses need to stay ahead of international certifications to ensure its products are confidently received in export markets.

    According to him, growing an international export business requires mastery of processes, strategic planning, quality standards and partnerships.   This assistance, he is ready to provide to would-be entrepreneurs.

    He  wants to  help exporters maintain and grow access to international markets by ensuring they meet the requirements of importing countries. It has to do with packing and ensuring that the produce is quality-checked, sorted, washed,  pre-cooled and packed in cartons.  According to him, exporting fresh produce requires maintaining an uninterrupted transportation chain to guarantee food quality and safety.  If safely transported and quality maintained, the produce commands a premium price in EU markets.

  • Entrepreneurs return to varsity which groomed them

    Entrepreneurs return to varsity which groomed them

    Years after graduation, ex-students of Salem University, Lokoja share acquired values that are helping them navigate the curves of life and careers, reports SUNDAY OGUNTOLA

    Fidelis Ekom was all smiles as he walked to the podium. Many in the audience clapped. Others nodded delightfully. All simply cheered the young entrepreneur that defines many values Salem University (SU), Lokoja represent. It was at the fifth convocation ceremony of the institution last Saturday.

    The cheering audience had reasons to be excited. Just three years after graduation, Ekom has set up three thriving business outfits.  Wear with style perfumes deals with sales and distribution of quality perfumes across the nation; Diplomatic Republic Entertainment-D.R.E is an entertainment company that has the recording artiste on its label; Under 30s C.E.O Naija, a media outfit profiles young entrepreneurs.

    The cheers over, Ekom said everything is down to the quality education he received, especially in entrepreneurship while in SU. The institution has an entrepreneurship programme that seeks to make job creators out of students as against being job seekers. He said: “The institution is not just an educational learning hub but truthfully a transformational, leadership training ground for optimistic, innovative, goal-driven minds,” Ekom submitted.

    His speech was punctuated by more applause. But he wasn’t done yet. “The trainings made me a pace setter and an improved being in the society. It’s not surprising that today I find myself so passionate about my engagements to the extent it has become a lifestyle,” he added.

    It was Precious Oyem’s turn to share how much difference the institution has made in his life. Amid cheers, he held the hall spell-bound. During his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) days, Oyem was one of those hired by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by election into a vacant House of Assembly seat in Abia state. He thought his assignment was over after the results were declared. But few minutes after, agents and chieftains of political parties approached him for assistance.

    They were willing to offer him anything just to allow them thumb print and change the declared results. Oyem was stupefied. He knew he wouldn’t do it. But how can he tell the old men and women begging him frantically that he cannot help them? It wasn’t that he didn’t need the offered money but he cannot sell his conscience.

    Everything he learnt at Salem University flooded back to his memories. “I recalled how it was always being hammered into our hearing that smartness can take a man to the top but only integrity can keep him there,” Oyem recounted. He had to tell them anyway. Saying no is a no-brainer. It can hurt feelings but save one a lifetime of heartaches.

    “With God’s wisdom I refused the bribe and stood my ground based on my background in Salem University which I have imbibed,” he remembered. Even when the incensed party agents mobilised a mob to attack the unyielding, unprotected corps member, God was there to help him escape unhurt.

    Sandra Nnadozie is a 2014 graduate of Microbiology from the institution. In four years, she said the school transformed her “from a shy, naïve and timid girl to a reserved, god-fearing, relentless, goal-oriented woman.”

    Today, as an operation manager in an international networking company, Nnadozie said she owes everything to the tutelage she received from SU. “Salem University not only equipped me educationally but also spiritually and mentally and I was prepared to face the world and be a change agent anywhere I go.”

    Godwin Awojobi is Senior Software Engineer at Biscom. He said the Total Leadership Training Concept (TLTC) courses offered in the institution equipped him with the right skill sets for his current high-profile, demanding job.

    Awojobi said, “Paired with academics, my degree played integral role in the development and preparation of my quantitative and qualitative skills for career success in information technology. Salem University has helped me grow my skill-set and put me in a position to succeed and also help others to succeed.

  • NB Plc, entrepreneurs fight recession

    NB Plc, entrepreneurs fight recession

    The Nigerian Breweries Plc and entrepreneurs have found some refreshing ways to tackle the economic recession. The breweries gave out N250,000 to each of 30 persons who own small businesses. The gesture was aimed at boosting those businesses in the hopes that if they get the expected lift, the brewers will have helped to fight the present recession of the economy. Given the fact that a man supports no fewer than four persons in the country, the NB Plc gesture will go a long way in relieving many families.

    Those 30 entrepreneurs got their funds through a live radio phone-in programme tagged Life Progress Business Booster show organised by NB Plc. The live show was conducted in Igbo, a way to stimulate the usage of the language said to be facing extinction. The audience spanned the entire Southeast.

    The entrepreneurs themselves should be hailed for their business ideas. Some make cocoyam flour, some ice block machines, some locust bean spice called ogili in local language.

    They presented those ideas in a contest and 30 of them won.

    The winners said the cash prizes were a godsend, coming at a time when the country is facing recession and focusing on diversification of the economy. They promised to use the cash to improve their businesses, promote made in Nigeria products as well as jobs for people roaming the streets.

    They described the process of the contest as transparent and one that took the grace of God to see them through judging by the number of people that participated in the exercise.

    One of the winners Madu James, an Imo State indigene and graduate of Economics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Awka, Anambra State, said years of searching for white collar job left him frustrated.

    “I have been writing applications for job and yet none was coming over the years. I attended Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State where I studied Economics and graduated in 2013.  I feel fulfilled with the cash reward and my joy is now complete because this is what I have been praying and dreaming to get but it has not been coming forth.

    “This is not the first time I am submitting business plans. I have written so many plans and none saw the light of day until this very one. I will use the money to set up the business for which I submitted the proposal. The money actually won’t be enough, but I will use the one I have to set up a business. And as the business grows, I hope to employ more people according to my profit margin. I am looking at employing about 40 persons within two years or more,” Mr. James stated.

    James describing the cocoyam powder as a good soup thickener for local delicacies including bitter leaf and Oha soup and amongst others said that the price will be affordable to all class of users while the raw materials will be sourced locally even as he hopes to export the product to other parts of the world where users of the product resides.

    He called on job seekers to try and learn how to be self-dependent and be job providers instead of relying solely on the government for job provision.

    In an interview, Mr. Agu Emmanuel, Portfolio manager for Mainstream Lager and Stout for Nigerian Breweries PLC said that the 3rd phase of Life Progress Business Booster show is part of the company’s contribution in promoting entrepreneurship using indigenous language; Igbo of the people of Southeast where the product brand is brewed and majorly marketed.

    Mr. Emmanuel said the entrepreneurs must speak Igbo and communicate their business ideas in clear Igbo language.

    “It is a yearly event,” he said. “What we did is to keep the amount constant, but increase the number of the people. The more the merrier. We rewarded 50 people across the southeastern states last year and this year we are giving out 250,000 to 200 persons across the five southeastern states. It is because we want to continue touching people’s life positively that we are using this brand to reach our numerous consumers and members of the public.

    “What you are seeing today is the result of Life booster radio programme and we are very conscious about making sure that we have a fair distribution across the states so that there will be no single state that will dominate in terms of having all the winners coming from there. And that is why when we look at the people we are going to reward through the radio programme, we look at our data base to check whether we are still within those fair balance and then, we make provisions for on the ground submission of business ideas where we can reward people.”

    On why the concentration is on Southeast, Emmanuel said, “The choice for southeast was berthed because the brand has its root from the southeast. You know that Life has a brewery in Onitsha and it is a brand that we are marketing from a regional perspective. We positioned Life for Southeast and positioned Goldberg for southwest.

    “Yes, it could have its footprints in other locations, but we can’t deny the fact that it originated from the southeast and that again because we need to be concentrated in what we are doing so that we can ensure that we are less focused in what we are doing.”

  • N7.5m reward for 30 entrepreneurs

    N7.5m reward for 30 entrepreneurs

    No fewer than 30 entrepreneurs have shared a total of N7.5m, being their prize for participating in a radio programme organised a brewery. Life Continental Beer gave out the cash on its radio programme Life Progress Booster Show targeted at innovative businessmen and women in the Southeast.

    The presentation of prizes to the entrepreneurs took place at Mimi’s Bar All Season Avenue, Owerri, where 20 winners selected on the radio show and another 10 chosen for their outstanding business proposals at the venue, were rewarded with N250,000 each for their business ideas.

    Earlier in June, the brand presented N7.5m to 30 winners in Enugu.

    Brand Manager, Regional Mainstream Brands, NB Plc, Funso Ayeni said at the event, “We believe in the strength and capacity of the people of the Southeast to thrive even amidst hardship and a recession, but we also believe progress can only be achieved with support, especially for excellent business ideas. We have a lot of people with those wonderful ideas with us here today so there is a need to connect with them to ensure they make progress with those ideas. That’s why the Progress Booster show was specially created for the people of the South-east.”

    “We started with 50 winners in 2015, and this year, we are targeting 200 winners. So far, we have had 60 winners. We still have room to receive, select and support more viable business ideas,” he added.

    Some past winners at the event shared their experiences and achievements with the audience thanking Life Beer for supporting their businesses. They encouraged the new winners to make good use of the support given to them, and also implored the audience to participate in the competition.

    Other participants at the venue went home with various consolation prizes.

  • Lagos earmarks N15.5m for student entrepreneurs

    The Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has approved  N15.5 million as seed funds and grants for final year students of Lagos State tertiary institutions enrolled in the Ready.Set.Work (RSW) entrepreneurship/employability training programme.

    The N15.5million will be distributed as working capital among the top three teams to emerge from the RSW Business Pitch Competition, scheduled to hold September 3, 2016.

    The competition will feature as curtains lower on the initiative, which exposed 500 final year students of the Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), and the Lagos State College of Health Technology to 13 weeks of employability and entrepreneurship training since June.

    Special Adviser to the governor on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh said in a statement that about 80 of the best performing students in the entrepreneurship stream of the initiative would undergo three-six months’ apprenticeship learning from seasoned entrepreneurs on how to run successful businesses.

    This is in addition to 90 students from the employability stream who would be placed on six-month internships with such firms as PwC, SystemSpecs, FCMB, GTBank, Access Bank, TOTAL, Jobberman, and Stutern, among others.

    He said: “Our focus from the onset has been providing students in Lagos State with the tools, knowledge, and know-how to become effective employees or job creators. We already secured 90 internship slots for students in the employability track of the program and we realised that students in the entrepreneurship track could also benefit from experience in a structured, supervised work setting, where they can learn the rudiments of running a business effectively.”

  • Lagos earmarks N15.5m for student entrepreneurs

    The Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has approved  N15.5 million as seed funds and grants for final year students of Lagos State tertiary institutions enrolled in the Ready.Set.Work (RSW) entrepreneurship/employability training programme.

    The N15.5m will be distributed as working capital among the top three teams to emerge from the RSW Business Pitch Competition, scheduled to hold September 3, 2016.

    The competition will feature as curtains lower on the initiative, which exposed 500 final year students of the Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), and the Lagos State College of Health Technology to 13 weeks of employability and entrepreneurship training since June.

    Special Adviser to the governor on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh said in a statment that about 80 of the best performing students in the entrepreneurship stream of the initiative would undergo three-six months’ apprenticeship learning from seasoned entrepreneurs on how to run successful businesses.

    This is in addition to 90 students from the employability stream who would be placed on six-month internships with such firms as PwC, SystemSpecs, FCMB, GTBank, Access Bank, TOTAL, Jobberman, and Stutern, among others.

    He said: “Our focus from the onset has been providing students in Lagos State with the tools, knowledge, and know-how to become effective employees or job creators.”