Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI), in support of the U.S consulate General, Lagos, has empowered young entrepreneurs across tertiary institutions in the country on skills that would enhance their businesses to thrive.
The beneficiary students who cut across universities and polytechnics, participated at the three months training which started in August, where they were exposed to leadership and entrepreneurship skills by experts across different fields.
Speaking during the concluded mentorship event held at Ikoyi, the President of CYFI, Olusola Owonikoko, said that to build a prosperous nation, it is necessary to invest in the massive youths who make huge contributions to the development of a country.
He noted that the entrepreneurship programme was held to support young entrepreneurs who are in the tertiary institutions struggling to survive with their businesses in the current economic realities.
He said that the agency is much concerned about the future of the younger generation, by addressing employability and helping them to find usefulness in what they do.
Owonikoko argued that it is high time varsities provided platforms for the young entrepreneurs in the school to develop the necessary skills and knowledge.
According to him, “I believe right now every university should have technological and entrepreneurship hub, because personally, I started my entrepreneur in my Uni days but unfortunately, we didn’t get any support. Universities should start looking beyond traditional educational model to futuristic model that promotes entrepreneurial thinking and innovative approaches to things.”
In his remarks, the Project Coordinator of the programme, Boboye Adeniji, implored the government to put in place policies that would be beneficial in ensuring small scale businesses thrive.
He said: “Our key focus has always been on SMEs to ensure that they become more sustainable and profitable and until we do that, we can’t really create wealth or solve the problem of Nigeria because they are in the huge number. If they are empowered and they live up to their potentials, it will seriously reduce unemployment rate because they will be able to employ one or two people.”
Also, the Programme Officer for the entrepreneurship training, Allen Abu, said the participants were trained on business strategy, branding, digital marketing, etc.
He expressed joy over the feedback he has continued to receive from the students, saying “The engagement has been massive. People have reached out to us with testimonies of them using all of the things they are learning to test if they can work and It is positive.”
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