Niger Delta youth group empowers 1,600 SMEs

The Niger Delta Youth Professionals (NDYP) said it has empowered more than 1,600 micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the region with N0.5m grant each to support and increase the capacities of their businesses.

NDYP said the organisation created over 4,922 direct and indirect jobs through grants and trained more than 2,304 business owners on various entrepreneurship skills, while on its own it has empowered more than 200 business owners.

Convener of the Niger Delta Micro Small and Enterprises Summit, Moses Siasia, who made this known at the third edition of the summit in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom, at the weekend, said the gesture was with support from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

He said the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF), a larger body incorporating the NDYP, has also through its advocacy increased its membership to over two million spread across around 15 countries.

With a focus on ‘Building the Culture of Entrepreneurship Compositeness Beyond’ and earlier editions held in Port Harcourt and Asaba, Siasia said the initiative was meant to change the narrative by empowering young people in the region to achieve their dreams.

“We want our young people who are entrepreneurs to understand that the future is theirs and that the future is entrepreneurship. The world is diverting from hydrocarbons. We are talking about energy transition and climate change,” he said.

Guest Speaker at the event, Ebimoboere Enyiekpemi whose lecture was anchored on ‘Entrepreneur Beyond Oil’ stressed the need for a return to agriculture due to increasing problems and changes in climatic conditions.