Art Tech District, a Social Entrepreneurship company has revealed plans to create more jobs for teeming youth through the technology and hospitality sector.
This is just as the CEO of the company, Mosope Olaosebikan asked the Nigerian Government to empower businesses by reducing the cost of registering new companies and introducing a single-digit loan policy to enable businesses grow.
The economic challenges facing Nigeria are too real and too urgent for a single sector to handle alone, hence the need for government-private collaboration in tackling unemployment.
A document obtained from Art Tech District by Nigerian Tribune, noted that the forces of entrepreneurship in Nigeria are relatively strong, as the deplorable poverty and unemployment rates leave few other options for citizens.
The document further stated that youth unemployment, according to the National Bureau of Statistics Q4 2020 report, stands at an alarming rate of 42.5%.
“Yet the Nigerian economy, depending on the government or the public sector alone, cannot create jobs more rapidly and consistently mop up labor. Entrepreneurs do a great deal trying to fill this gap, but this gap is growing faster than current entrepreneurial initiatives can keep up.
“The importance of entrepreneurs in job creation cannot be overstated. Their contribution to industrialization, economic growth, wealth creation, and improved standard of living is enormous. They are the driving force of our nation’s economy.
“With this in mind, a group of entrepreneurs led by designer and creative, Mosope Olaosebikan has been working towards filling an unemployment and storytelling gap in Nigeria through technology and hospitality.
“Olaosebikan is the founder of Art Tech District, a tech-based theme park in Abuja that houses Nigeria’s first digital museum, The Discovery Museum and the restaurants: Lagos Bistro, Amazonia, Sketch and Kapppadocia. All of these entities are making a significant impact across the tourism and hospitality industries”, the document noted.
In just 16 months since its launch, according to the document, Art Tech District has already expanded from Abuja to Lagos, employing at least 550 young Nigerians, from graphics designers, video producers, and VR experts to photographers, creative writers, and digital marketing experts, virtually everyone in the creative economy sees ATD as a haven.
Olaosebikan however, said the government should give grants to social entrepreneurship companies, provide tax incentives for them and implement friendly trade polices.
He said doing business in Nigeria, as people always say, is like climbing Mount Everest without safety devices. This has to change.
“There should be more collaboration between the government and entrepreneurs in tackling this behemoth challenge called unemployment. The government needs to empower social entrepreneurs such as Mosope Olaosebikan by reducing the cost and time it takes to register new companies in Nigeria, providing single-digit loan policies, and giving grants.
“The government needs to provide tax incentives, design and implement friendly trade policies, and provide contract opportunities to private companies.
The Social Entrepreneur said entrepreneurship remains the highest employer of labor worldwide, and economic growth is stymied when entrepreneurial activities are stifled.
“The Discovery Museum has successfully merged the past, present and future of Nigerian storytelling using new-age technology. So far, it has been visited by UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, the French and Bulgarian Ambassadors to Nigeria, the Managing Director, Development Policy and Partnerships at World Bank, Mari Pangestu among other visitors.
“The restaurants on another hand seem to revolutionize the concept of fine dining in Nigeria, focusing on experiential spaces based on other locations or creative concepts. And with foreign companies almost claiming a monopoly on the restaurant space in Nigeria, these Nigerian-owned and run restaurants are a breath of fresh air.
“Nigeria’s economic challenges are creating a hostile environment for entrepreneurial success. The country’s inadequate infrastructure, especially the lack of a steady power supply, also stifles entrepreneurial activity.
“Entrepreneurship remains the highest employer of labor worldwide, and economic growth is stymied when entrepreneurial activities are stifled”, the document added.
and then