British Council Partner Others To Host Business Pitch, Award Ceremony

By Simeon OSAJIE

The British Council in collaboration with King’s Trust International as the technical partner and ENDIP as delivery partner hosted the Final Business Pitch and Award Ceremony of the Youth Sustainable Enterprise Challenge in Port-Harcourt Rivers State.

The programme funded by the British Council is aimed at equipping young Nigerians with entrepreneurial skills, and designed to equip youths with the necessary skills to start their own businesses and also employ others.

Speaking at the Final Business Pitch and Award Ceremony of the Youth Sustainable Enterprise Challenge Programme (YSECP), Mr. Chikodi Onyemerela, Director of Programmes, British Council, a special guest, said the programme is a response to the need for skills acquisition among young Nigerians.

He noted that the British Council aims to support the Nigerian government in its efforts to empower young people and promote economic growth.

“Young Nigerians need skills and jobs. All manner of vices are attached to lack of skills and lack of jobs,” he said.

According to him, YSECP falls under Non-formal Education portfolio of the British Council, which focuses on providing skills training to young people outside the traditional education system.

He explained that the training includes soft skills such as leadership, peace, conflict resolution, and gender sensitivity, making participants more employable and entrepreneurial. He added that the programme also provides a platform for participants to network with peers and mentors, potentially leading to business opportunities and collaborations.

He said the programme has already trained 80 young people in Rivers State, aligning with the target of 80 participants per location, adding that the best performers will receive a take-off grant, and continuous mentorship will be provided to ensure their success.

“At the end of the programme, like now they are pitching, we are listening, and the best will get a certain amount of money as a take-off grant, but beyond that, there is continuous mentorship,” Mr. Onyemerela explained.

However, he called on government agencies and corporate partners to collaborate with the organization to train more youths, while emphasizing the need for synergy to address the challenges faced by young people in Nigeria, particularly in the area of skills acquisition and entrepreneurship.

“We would like to get agencies of the government to get involved in the implementation, particularly the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),” he said.

On her part the executive director, Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (ENDIP), Mrs Lilian Ari, noted that ENDIP, an organisation of over 25years, has been dedicated to developing 10,000 sustainable enterprises capable of generating 30,000 jobs in Nigeria by 2030. She made a clarion call to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and South-South Development Commission to invest in young people and their entrepreneurial ventures.

She further called on State and Local Governments to make youth enterprise a budget priority to foster economic growth and development as well as Multinational Oil Majors to reimagine Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as seed capital for youth-led transformation, rather than charity.

Representing the Executive Director in the interview was Godsgift Sunday who is also the programme coordinator says:

The programme follows a two-part approach, where participants acquire enterprise development skills and employability skills.

According to him, the programme provides participants with comprehensive training in business operations, including enterprise development, employability skills, ICT, and business operations planning. Participants are also trained to pitch their business ideas.

He added that participants who complete the programme, pitch their business to a panel of judges and emerge winners receive a grant of ₦300,000 each to start their businesses, emphasising that beyond the grant, ENDIP provides additional support, including one-on-one mentorship and guidance to ensure the participants’ success.

“We provide other support for them, like one-on-one support for them. This effort provides a mentor who will carefully guide them in their business journey,” Sunday explained.

He emphasised the need to scale up YSECP and similar youth enterprise programs to address the region’s challenges, including insecurity, unemployment, poverty, hunger and hopelessness.

Meanwhile, Michael Uche Oji and Veronica Bankole, who were among the eight winners of the N300,000 each from the Youth Sustainable Enterprise Challenge Programme (YSECP), thanked God and the organization for the opportunity, saying they would reinvest the funds in their businesses.

They advised their colleagues to make proper use of the fund and knowledge acquired in the training, to boost their businesses.