Over 900,000 young Nigerians have been equipped with essential skills to thrive in today’s fast-paced world, through the Future-X Unilever Campus Ambassadors Programme (FUCAP), a pioneering collaboration between Unilever Nigeria Plc and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

This initiative has made a significant impact on the lives of these individuals, providing them with crucial employability, digital, and entrepreneurial skills.

This achievement is the result of a two-and-a-half-year collaboration that has leveraged a robust ecosystem anchored on UNICEF’s Youth Agency Marketplace (YOMA) platform, Unilever’s social media channels, and higher education campus networks.

Unilever is a founding global partner of Generation Unlimited (GenU), a leading public-private youth development alliance that connects young people to opportunities in education, skills, and employment.

Addressing journalists on the initiative, the Managing Director of Unilever Nigeria, Tobi Adeniyi, described FUCAP as a proven partnership model that blends government leadership, UNICEF’s global development expertise, and the firm’s purpose-led ambition to brighten everyday life for all.

“We recognise that young people are at the heart of the country’s future and economic transformation. Through our partnership with UNICEF on FUCAP, we are deliberately investing in scalable platforms that equip young Nigerians with practical, future-fit skills and expose them to real opportunities to learn, grow, and transition confidently from learning to earning.”

Adeniyi noted that combining digital learning with on-campus engagement has been central to the programme’s reach, with over 85,000 students impacted through 30 physical career seminars delivered by trained Unilever Future Career Ambassadors (FUCAs) at universities and polytechnics, and in partnership with partner institutions.

He underscored the programme’s strong alignment with the firm’s core sustainability priority of improving livelihoods, an impact area that directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by equipping young people with the skills and opportunities to thrive.

Chief of UNICEF, Lagos Office, Celine Lafoucriere, stated that UNICEF, in partnership with Unilever, remains committed to empowering young Nigerians through the FUCAP initiative.

Lafoucriere, who is also the Lead, Generation Unlimited (GenU), Nigeria, said over the last two-and-a-half years, the programme has focused on equipping young people with entrepreneurship skills, digital capabilities, and career guidance.

FUCAP, now active in 20 universities, bridges the gap between academia and industry by bringing practical, real-world knowledge directly to students and creating clear pathways into employment.

Through the initiative, both UNICEF and Unilever aim to continue strengthening an ecosystem that enables young people to transition confidently from learning to earning, ultimately contributing to Nigeria’s economic growth and development.