N10bn empowerment: BoI trains 2,500 young entrepreneurs

A nationwide capacity building for 2,500 successful applicants under the Bank of Industry (BoI) N10 billion Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme has taken off, the bank said on Monday in Lagos.

YES is a federal government initiative aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the country through capacity building and funding of their business ideas.

Mr Waheed Olagunju, the Acting Managing Director of BoI, said at the flag-off of the programme at the Pan Atlantic University, Enterprise Development Centre, Lagos, that it would help to boost industrialisation and job creation in the country.

He said: “We are trying to derisk the applicants and that is why we are linking them with 12 of the best enterprise business development providers in the country to train them and help them develop bankable business proposals.

“If they succeed, the sustainability of the programme will have multiplier effects on the economy and the aspirations of other budding entrepreneurs.”

Olagunju said the training would also equip the participants with skills and knowledge in value proposition, business models, sales and marketing that would assist them in starting and managing their businesses.

According to the BoI boss, the five days training in Entrepreneurship and Business Management is taking place simultaneously in 20 locations across the six geo-political zones of the country.

He said 2,500 youths would be trained per quarter in the first year with an estimated 20,000 participants by the second year of the programme.

He said the programme had the potential to create more than 150, 000 direct and indirect jobs within a year through the 10, 000 supported businesses across the established supply and distribution value chain.

Olagunju urged the participants to display outstanding performance during the training and ensure that they leveraged on finance for the growth of their business ventures.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that a maximum of N5 million can be accessed by each beneficiary at an interest rate of nine per cent with tenor ranging from three to five years.

Dr Peter Bamkole, the Director, EDC Pan Atlantic University, urged the participants to develop business plans that would proffer solutions to the country’s challenges.

“The businesses should be locally aligned in order to ensure their sustainability and success.

“Let the business ventures be worthwhile so that we can make Nigeria a better and great nation.”

A participant, Mr Abiodun Oni, expressed the hope that the programme would impact on the lives of many entrepreneurs positively, create wealth and also put the nation on the path of economic recovery.