Entrepreneurship Network empowers over 2,000 MSMEs

The General Manager of the Global Entrepreneurship Network for Nigeria, Olawale Anifowose, has said that the initiative has supported not less than 2,000 Nigerian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) especially in the area of capacity building.

Speaking at a ceremony announcing winners of the 2022 Entrepreneurship World Cup and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Dr Anifowose, who is also the General Manager, Programmes and Partnerships, Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Lagos Business School, said all the participants have received in addition, a $100,000 in kind support from Amazon, Meta, Google, among others.

The EWC 2022 national winner was MyFood Angels, a Nigerian agro-based logistics company which went home with a cash prize of N500,000, followed by Creamson Tech with N300,000 while the third place went to Mystash Inc. with a cash reward of N200,000.

Anifowose said the annual event was organised to energise Nigerian youths to launch their business ideas and be more visible in the business ecosystem.

He said, “In over four years, the centre has impacted over 2,000 MSMEs and is willing to continue to support young entrepreneurs in the country.”

He added that the centre would help provide participants with access to quality support services and requisite information to grow their businesses.

Anifowose assured that the initiative would provide access to obtain loans through their partnership with the Development Bank of Nigeria, stressing that the loan would help accelerate development and expansion with the right perception of being a global brand.

While expressing optimism over the forthcoming Global Entrepreneurship World Cup, he said, “Nigeria has been doing well at the global stage but has come short to win the top prize. One of the things we aspire for is that we will be able to make a positive impact to bring the prize home this time around.”

The winners are expected to compete on the global stage of the Entrepreneurship World Cup.

The Deputy Director of Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University, Nneka Okekearu, lauded the Development Bank of Nigeria and Providus Bank for their collaborative effort in providing seed grants for start-ups and young entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

Winners of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) that were unveiled at a ceremony in Lagos are: Eti Farms Global Limited, a mushroom producing company that went home with N250,000; Haqqumen Farms, an egg producing firm with N150,000 and Organic Natural Food with a N100,000 cash prize.

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According to Anifowose, the EDC looked at the projections that are well articulated, those that have done preliminary work like registration of their businesses, have understanding of their business and market, among other criteria.

“We want to encourage young people to have interest in agriculture, not just going to farm but to understand that there are various areas in the agricultural value chain that they can play in, using technology,” he stated.

The EDC has the mission of providing holistic business development and support services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

It provides capacity building programmes and a variety of wrap-around services such as advisory services, mentoring, experts-in-residence, network meetings, access to market and information, implementation of organisational plans and more.

According to Anifowose, the Entrepreneurship World Cup is a global competition running in 180 countries.

“We have established it in Nigeria as a programme to support young people because one of the challenges young entrepreneurs have is that when they have an idea, they really don’t have anywhere to test that idea.

“We give startups a level playing ground to pitch their ideas and be selected based on merit,” he explained further.

Out of 10,800 applications for the Entrepreneurship World Cup this year, it was scaled down to 500 young Nigerians who applied. These 500 had the opportunity of going through a three-months online training programme after which they submitted their pitch that was scaled down to the final 10.

The programme, he added, would be running every year for  the next five years.

He explained that the money given to them is like seed funding, stressing that the EDC would continue to give them guidelines on how to scale and put bankable projects together.

That way, they would be able to access more funding at single digit interest rate from the Development Bank of Nigeria and other partners.

Another benefit of the award, according to Anifowose, is that beneficiaries have been trained and due diligence conducted on them in terms of Know Your Customer (KYC) principle. This gives lenders confidence to extend credit to them.

“The most important part of this is that we will be working with them, providing business advisory services. We want to build a community of young people like these that know what they are doing so that we can open up more opportunities for them,” he emphasised.

In the last four years, EDC has rewarded 40 young entrepreneurs as finalists and about 2,000 people impacted through training.

Also, the EDC has a youth entrepreneurship dialogue series organised for about 1,000 NYSC members and even secondary school students during the Global Entrepreneurship Week where “we celebrate innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity in the third week of every November,” said the EDC GM.

Usually, the Youth Entrepreneurship Dialogue brings together young Nigerians and exposes them to the different aspects of entrepreneurship and the benefit of engaging in entrepreneurial activities.

Also, the Global Entrepreneurship Network operates an array of programmes in 200 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business.

The Enterprise Development Centre  is the Entrepreneurship Centre of the Pan-Atlantic University.