Four NYSC members win BATN Foundation’s Farmers for the Future Grant

Four members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have won the Farmers for the Future (F4F) Grant competition organised by the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF).

The grant with the cash value of N16.5m and others is an agricultural entrepreneurship grant designed to support young NYSC members who run viable agri-business, with equity-free capital and other associated support they may require to upscale their businesses.

The grant provides access to technical training through a rigorous boot camp facilitated by subject matter experts. It also provides them access to mentorship with renowned agripreneurs in their areas of interest and in addition to access to finance to upscale their agriculture enterprise.

Victoria Emmanuel, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sokvikia Enterprises, a catfish processing firm in Kogi State, who emerged as the overall winner got the sum of N3m; Chidinma Ezeh, the CEO of FarmCAS, an agricultural human resources service organisation, who emerged as the first runner-up got N2m; while Paul Ugorji of Swift Fish Farm received the sum of N1m for finishing third.

The winners were among the six finalists earlier selected from over 20,000 participants who registered for the competition sponsored by the BATN Foundation.

The outgoing Director-General, NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, represented by the Director, Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Department (SAED), Alhaja Walida Isa Saddique, thanked the management of BATN Foundation for initiating the programme through which corps members are empowered with start-up capital and technical support to establish and scale their chosen agribusinesses.

He noted that the training and technical support received were in tandem with the NYSC objectives, among which is to build the spirit of self-reliance in the Nigerian youth and encourage them to contribute their quota to Nigeria’s socio-economic development.

He underscored the impact of the programme since its inception, making reference to the enormous impact made by earlier winners who have successfully established their agribusinesses and are contributing to the economic development of Nigeria.

In his vote of thanks, the Acting General Manager of BATN Foundation, Oludare Odusanya, expressed gratitude to the boot camp facilitators and judges for taking out time to help prepare and select the most deserving agripreneur, while also reiterating the foundation’s commitment to ensuring the continued support of young people participating in agriculture.