YES scheme is not like SURE-P, says BoI

The Bank of Industry (BoI) has reiterated that its Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme is unlike the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

Worried by insinuations about the scheme, its noted that YES is an on-lending scheme to promote youth entrepreneurship. Indeed, the Bank noted that the scheme is not a grant-giving scheme like the SURE-P, as the development finance institution is responsible to its investors and seeks to enhance sustainability by ensuring funds are made available for developmental impacts in the society.

Clarifying perceptions on the programme, the Acting Managing Director of BoI, Waheed Olagunju explained that many of the entries received under the YES programme, which is in its second phase are false entries seeking free money and grants rather than entries willing to establish sustainable businesses in the country.

He explained thus: “We were encouraged by GEF and we moved to YES which is the Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (YES P) which was launched in March last year. It is a national programme and we have done two rounds where about 70, 000 applications were received even though we discovered that because we said N5 million will be the highest, some people went and sat down at a business centre for three days and started filing multiple entries.

“By the time the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan Atlantic University, the major development centre driving the process did their checks, they realized that out of the 70,000, about 40,000 were false entries. They thought that the N5 million was per person and they were saying that if this is YES P , it could be like SURE P.”