At empowerment workshop, El-Rufai urges youths to maximise opportunity 

In furtherance of its commitment to empower over 15,000 youths by 2019, the management of non-alcoholic beverage, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Ltd, has recently concluded a three-day workshop in Kaduna where it engaged no less than 800 youths with the aim of empowering them to improve their fortunes and create viable opportunities for economic growth. 
 
Youths, government officials, notable mentors, non-governmental organizations and host of others were at the workshop.

Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Bala Bantex, commended NBC for bringing the initiative to Kaduna.

He noted that Youth Empowered programme complements the government’s effort in empowering youth in the state. 
 
He said, “We welcome this initiative as a further contribution and necessary effort to support our youth with vital skills.

Kaduna is a young state with 89 per cent of the population being young men and women.

This demography has the potential to become the engine of growth if it is well trained and given the necessary opportunity.

On our part, we are responding to these needs in a variety of ways.

For instance, we have less than 100,000 people working for the Kaduna State Government; only 30,000 of them are youth.

To support them, the state government has created the Kaduna Start-up Entrepreneurship Programme to equip young graduates with requisite business and entrepreneurial skills”.

We are always willing and ready to partner with the government to support the youth in releasing their potentials.”
 
Eze stated that the programme would climax with a business idea and vision where participants would pitch their business ideas to a panel of entrepreneurs, who would select the best business idea.
  
“Our commitment as a business is that we are going to incorporate a company for the winning group after which we would source for funding to enable them actualise their ideas,” he said.