Youths

Abuja, Dec. 13, 2023: The Vice President Kashim Shettima has advised young Nigerians to continue to nature innovative ideas that would propel them into brighter future.

Shettima gave the advice at the Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge 2023 organised by the Ugwumba Center for Leadership Development in Africa (UCLDA) on Tuesday in Abuja.

UCLDA is a non-political, non-discriminatory, non-profit development organization established in Nigeria in 2018 with a mandate to raise a new generation of leaders and entrepreneurs for Africa.

Shettima, represented by Mrs. Inna Audu, Special Adviser on Humanitarian Affairs, tasked youth to continue to embrace innovations that would lead to job creation and poverty reduction.

“I assure you that money comes to good ideas. So continue what you’re doing and to be encouraging others who may not have reached the level that you have, “ Shettima said.

He also advised organiasations and individuals including to continue to support innovations and business ideas in the country.

Shettima commended the President of UCLDA, Nwosu Ugwumba, for his sustained efforts and support for development of entrepreneurship in the country.

“I’m quite excited with Ugwumba for your laudable initiative and your intervention, I can see that it is working in tandem with the President Bola Tinubu agenda of addressing poverty and unemployment.

The winner of the 2023 Ugwumba challenge was Taiwo Akinsanya, CEO Dynalimb Technologies Ltd, with prize of two million naira,

The 1st runner up also went home with one million naira, 2nd runner up -N700,000, 4th and 5th position with N500,000 and N300,000 respectively.

The President of UCLDA, Ugwumba congratulated the top winners and others who made it to the ten top finalists.

Ugwumba said that Centre since the inception of the programme in 2018 had supported over 5,000 youths and women to start up businesses, to reduce unemployment and poverty in the country.

“To us it is a means of contributing our quota to the development of the society.

“We don’t only training and empower the beneficiaries, we also follow them up to see that they succeed in their businesses,” Ugwumba said.

He encouraged other Nigerians to do their best to touch other people’s lives to make them better.

In his keynote address, the Director-General of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Memorial Foundation, Dr Abubakar Gambo, described entrepreneurship as a gate way for the development of Nigeria economy.

Gambo called on government and major stakeholders to work together to develop entrepreneurship in the country by addressing major problems affecting the development of business in the country.

Gambo listed some of the major problems to include, difficulties in securing bank loans, unstable electricity supply, poor infrastructure, multiple taxes and inconsistency in government policies.

“Our banks are now majorly warehouse for safekeeping of money with little or no access to loan. Something your savings are even deducted with no commeasurable interests.

“Unstable power supply is a major problem to development of entrepreneurship and business in the country. Unless we solve power problem, we are not going to develop as a nation,” Gambo said.

He said that even when a business survive these challenges, it would have to face limited market space as a result of Nigerians preference for foreign products.

“Unless these are resolved Nigeria cannot develop and these will continue to affect the development of businesses in the country,” he said.

He called for improved access to finance, favourable business environment and reduction of taxes to develop entrepreneurship in the country.

He said that development of entrepreneurship would help to eliminate poverty, curb rural-urban migration, drive development in Nigeria and her neighboring countries.

Presenting the programme overview, the Executive Secretary, Remmy Chukwuyere, said that the programme had not only help many Nigeria to develop on their skills but also to look inward.

He said some of the supported entrepreneurs now exported their products exported out of Nigeria, earnings foreign exchange and contributing to Nigeria Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

New York, Sept. 19, 2023: President Bola Tinubu has called on African leaders to increase investment in African youths toward enhancing socio-economic development of the continent.

Tinubu said this during a Breakfast Launch of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Impact Report, held on the margin of the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.

The report has the title, “The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme: A Decade of Impact”.

The report highlights the significant contribution of the TEF’s flagship 100 million dollars Entrepreneurship Programme in advancing Africa’s socio-economic development.

The programme was organised by TEF, United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) GEN-U (a global partnership to skill and connect young people to opportunities in education, employment and social impact.

Tinubu, represented by the Minister for Trade and Industry, Doris Uzoka-Anite, said that African leaders aren’t doing enough for the citizens as regards socio-economic development.

“I don’t think we are doing enough as Africans for Africa. I think we need to do a lot more.

“Tony Elumelu is the major person driving investment in SMEs, supporting the youths, entrepreneurship, and start-ups. We need to challenge ourselves more, go a bit further.

“Africa has some of the richest people on the planet, we have a resource rich continent, a huge population of young people, and I think that we need to take that challenge upon ourselves as Africans, to support one another,” he said.

Tinubu said that Africa should desist from its reliance on donor funding, noting that such should support what had already been established and not show Africans the way to do things.

He noted that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) were the engines of Nigeria and African economic growth, adding that they contributed almost half of the national GDP, and more than 80 per cent of employment.

“And this is why we owe them every support that we can make available,” he said.

Tinubu added that the right infrastructure which includes regulations, property rights, access to justice, protection from unfair competition, power, roads and ports access would be provided.

Similarly, Mr Tony Elumelu, Chairman, TEF, noted that the foundation took a bold step to transform Africa 13 years ago, by enhancing entrepreneurship development and galvanise African solutions.

Elumelu noted that TEF had lit a beacon, noting that support and collaboration was required to make the beacon shine brighter and better.

“100 million dollars is a drop of water in the ocean compared to what we need in Africa. Young Africans need economic support.

“We’ve seen the devastating effect of climate change, how our young ones due to hopelessness are migrating and living in difficult situations. We want to put a stop to that,” he said.

To achieve that, Elumelu called for collaboration and increased investment in young Africans, bringing more women to economic activities and alleviating poverty.

“Poverty anywhere is a threat to all of us everywhere,” he said.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Somachi Chris-Asoluka, said TEF had empowered young African entrepreneurs from all the 54 African countries.

Chris-Asoluka noted that TEF had surpassed its target and funded 18,000 entrepreneurs and disbursed over 100 million dollars, directly, as seed capital to entrepreneurs who had created over 400 thousand jobs across African countries.

She said that 91 per cent of businesses supported by the foundation were still active, generating significant revenue of over 2.3 million dollars and creating jobs.

According to her, the foundation has boosted gender representation, noting that the goal is to create a brighter and inclusive future for Africa.

Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, UNDP, said UNDP partnered TEF due to shared interest that drives development across Africa and globally.

Eziakonwa noted that Africans wealth was its population which constitutes 70 per cent of young, vibrant and innovative Africans.

“It is our loss if we don’t invest in them because that is the future of prosperity,” she said.

She called for enhanced collaboration and investment to strengthen economic development of African youths.

Also, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, said that TEF’s work aligns with Lagos State programmes on economic empowerment and poverty reduction.

Sanwo-Olu said that collaborative efforts must evolve, to enhance the scale of Impact to deepen inclusion, equity and fairness.

No fewer than 10,000 unemployed youths in Enugu State, on Tuesday, participated in the Federal Government’s skill acquisition pre-selection screening for the Project, “Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) Maximisation”.

The Project TVET Maximisation (or Project T-MAX), which is at the pilot stage in seven states, including Enugu State, would have 15,000 unemployed youths between 18 and 35 years, learning a skill over three months.

Supervising the Pre-Selection Screening for the Project in Enugu, Mrs Uzoamaka Yahaya, Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Centre Manager, said that the pre-selection screening was meant to reduce the number of applicants from 10,000 to 2,000 in the state.

Yahaya said that the first pre-selection screening of reducing the number of online skill learning applicants from 16,000 to 10,000 had already been done; while Tuesday, Nov. 15, would be the final to get the needed 2,000 applicants.

She said: “We are happy with the level of turnout and gratified that applicants, who are passionate to take advantage of the programme, are here, leaving out students who must have gone back to school.

“The skill training programme will kick-start in Enugu on Nov. 28 and the centres in Enugu are equipped with the state of the art facilities and classrooms for holistic training.

“Those youths engaged in the training that show high sense of learning and commitment would definitely be rewarded with a package to make them kick-start in earnest even as we follow up on them via mentoring.”

The manager said that ITF was committed to supervise and follow up on the programme and its applicants to ensure it would be fruitful to the society.

“We want youths to take this programme seriously and not despise their little beginning as they have a bright prospect to grow big in the future with this training and the support it can offer,” she said.

Mrs Nma Nwandu, Chief Executive Officer of KNF Legacy Centre, said that the centre would be partnering the government to train the youths on skills such as tailoring/fashion design; beauty care/cosmetology; cooking/baking; photography/cinematography and furniture works.

Nwandu said that the centre had spacious classrooms for the training, adding “we boast of top notch training personnel and teachers as well”.

Mrs Lovely Eluchie, Director of Kalisa Creatives, another training partner in the programme, lauded the Federal Government for the programme, noting that if made consistent, it would reduce unemployment level among youths.

“This programme shows that the Federal Government has young people at heart and is doing everything to better their lot by giving them hope for the future.

“I must sincerely commend the Federal Government for this gesture,” Eluchie said.

Other skills in the programme include ICT, automobile, welding and fabrication, plumbing and fittings, tiling and interlocking, electrical Installation, solar installation and maintenance, air conditioning and refrigeration repairs, leather works and agro-packaging.

The pilot phase of the project aims to equip 15,000 young Nigerians with skills across seven states; which are: Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Gombe.

Rísé.ng, an innovative blue-collar online market source, has unveiled plans to empower 36 million Nigerian youths with capacity building certifications to provide employment and stem brain drain tide.

Mrs Olawunmi Akalusi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rísé.ng, made this known at the official launch of the Rísé.ng Application, on Wednesday, in Lagos.

Akalusi said Rísé.ng was created to bridge the supply gap for blue-collar jobs and introduce professionalism to the informal sector.

She said that Rísé.ng empowerment initiative tagged “Project Empower” was aimed at addressing the increasing youth unemployment and lack of startup capital.

Akalusi said the initiative would also equip the Nigerian youths with the necessary skills and knowledge to start and manage successfully their own businesses.

“The programme will transform 36 million youths across Nigeria; one million per state, building their capacity through intensive training and internships.

“Thereafter, listing them on the rise.ng platform to reach a wider audience for business opportunities,” she said.

Akalusi disclosed that a proposal was in the offing with Harvard University to train youths for three days to enable them deal with customer acquisition and retention.

This, she said, was to engender business sustainability and equip youths with skills that could be achieved exported and at the same time, build the nation.

She called for partnership across private and public sectors to ensure that Nigerian talents were not exported to other countries to build the country’s blue-collar sector.

“There’s no one to help us build our country if we go out to build other people’s countries.

“We, however, want government to help the country by first providing electricity and other aspects would follow for the country to be great.

“On our part, we would continue to promote self-employment among Nigerian youths making them viable assets to the country’s economy,” she said.

Mr Samuel Egube, Commissioner, Economic Planning and Budget, Lagos State, described Rísé.ng as a solution from the youthful population that would empower artisans and create a market place around work ethics for blue collar jobs.

Egube said the development was in line with the governor of Lagos, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, administration’s agenda for youths, particularly with the launch of the 30-year development plan for the state.

He noted that over 50 per cent of the population in the state were young people.

Egube said the state was paying attention to initiatives around young people that would spur development.

“We are building several stadia, and are working on the technology space to be the technology hub for Africa and it is the reason why we are laying 3,000 kilometers of broadband fibrotic ducts around the city to attract significant investments in huge data centres in the state.

“As we head toward the future, we know that youths own the future and the future belongs to the youth so we are going to be activating several conversations with young people.

“Today, we are about to launch the 30 year development plan in Lagos and that involves the youth and so Lagos is paying significant attention to invest and work together with the youth.

“In Lagos, we want to see Lagos bicklayer, Lagos tilers and Rísé.ng lays the right foundation for that,” he said.

Alhaji Maruf Arowolo, the President, Motormechs and Technicians Association of Nigeria (MOMTAN), said the platform would enable artisans get reputable customers, provide re-orientation to enable them provide up to date services for the betterment of the country.

A United States-Nigerian Technology Company, WRKR Technology Inc., has promised to train 50,000 Nigerians on its skills that would make them globally competitive for employment opportunities.

WRKR is a technology company that unlocks access to work opportunities, making it easier for people to securely store and share their skills and employment data.

Founder of WRKR Technology, Mr Preston Obadan, in Abuja on Saturday, said the training would be for both graduates and undergraduates in the country.

He added that the company was  on a mission to equip 50,000 young people across Nigeria campuses, by assessing and upgrading their skills for existing jobs, and those yet to be created.

He said the aim was to reduce the level of unemployment in Nigeria and other African countries.

“We are Africa’s first workoutcomes company. Largely, what we do is providing skills and employment data by enabling companies to discover, recruit on board and manage talents faster.

“What we see in Africa is that we have a lot of issues centred around employment, from the unemployment rate in Nigeria and underemployment of people whose jobs can barely sustain.

“A company’s growth is measured by productivity, and if a person is not functioning optimally, it means there is no growth in your company.

 “For us at WRKR, we are passionate about people, we are building technologies to drive this growth in people, enabling them to manage their skills and employment records better, giving them access to the kind of global opportunities and employment marketplace.”

Obadan said the company, in line with its mandate, had launched a programme called  Future Workforce, a one-stop-shop for young people.

He said the mission of the programme was to upgrade the skill set of 50,000 young people across universities in Nigeria, through relevant training, internships and work experiences.

He said the Programme was largely targeted at fresh graduates and undergraduates, to get access to the right set of tools and resources and enable them to take the global jobs.

“The future workforce programme is a youth employment initiative with WRKR Technology Inc, Nigerian Universities and private partners in the United States.

“The technology that we are building, our purpose is actually building people.

“In doing that, we need to understand this people’s problems, how to better address their problems.

“The government has been saying this for over two decades – skill acquisition programmes- how many are in existence now? Where are these skills?

“But to be honest,  are these skills acquisition actually benefiting the community?

“For us at WRKR, we like to think we are for-profit for-benefit organisation and if the people that we are creating technology for are not able to be better, grow better, there is no point in going further.

“So, WRKR is a club-based mobile platform and basically, we enable employers and candidates to effectively share skills and employment data while also optimising the process of discovering, recruiting on board and managing talents.

“At the heart of what we do is people, and the future workforce programme is a multi-stakeholder engagement between companies and institutions in Nigeria and the United States of America.

“This will enhance the productivity of young people and provide them with resources to better their chance of finding work now and the future, ” he added.

The Programme Manager, Future Workforce, Daniel Oyekanmi, said the major aim of the firm was to solve job problems in Nigeria and other African countries, by training and upscaling people for jobs.

Oyekanmi said the training was  free, as participants would also be given a career kit.

“We are training graduates for employers. We have a platform where employees meet, including interns.

“The training is free, our target is over 50 000 participants. We deliver a career kit, which a participant is to pay one dollar to get the kit.

“For example, we want NNPC to be able to hire talent at get-go and a right kind of talent as against putting a call for 1,000 then you have 10,000 or 20,000 people applying for the job.

“But if we have a process that streamlines, gives you the best candidate and also given the candidate the best kind of opportunity, this makes it easier, ” he added.

He,  however, advised those interested to apply online through https://www.futurenigeria.xyz/

He further stated that the company was scaling operation to other African countries towards the end of 2022.