BoI, First Bank, AGDC Launch Project In Creating 1mn New Entrepreneurs
As part of efforts to raise more entrepreneurs in the country, the Bank of Industry (BoI), First Bank of Nigeria Limited and the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC) have launched the youth ignite initiative in creating one million new entrepreneurs in the country.
This they say is in acknowledging the fact that entrepreneurship development will aid the creation of job opportunities so as to address the high level of unemployment in Nigeria.
The initiatives which was launched yesterday in Lagos is starting with N500 million capital and it is a five years programme. Under the scheme, start up could access up to N200,000 loan with single digit interest rate, while and for people already in business will get up to N500,000, which will be repayable over 12 months.
The acting managing director of BoI, Waheed Olagunju, explained the urgent need to bring down the level of unemployment in the nation to single digit, maintaining that the nation will be sitting on a time bomb of youth restiveness if nothing is done in the next two to three years to address the scourge.
The chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, stated that the partnership with BoI is a step in the right direction to help the nation address its high rate of unemployment in the country.
She pointed out that Nigeria has got to a dire situation where the country has too many young people unemployed due to lack of viable businesses in the country.
She also pointed out that there is a major information and knowledge gap in the country, saying that Nigerians have a natural abundance of entrepreneurial exuberance but lacks the real knowledge.
“We are looking at raising the next one million new entrepreneurs who can at least employ five people in the first year and if you add the two people plus the entrepreneur, that will be five million jobs been created at the end of the five year programme,” she said.
While, the managing director/CEO. Of First Bankn. Dr. Adesola Adeduntan noted that the bank collaborating with BoI will boost employment and enhance economy growth.
Also the executive director, AGDC, Mrs. Funmi Adeyemi, said the youth ignite initiative became necessary to help government address the unemployment challenge in the country.
According to her, AGDC has been involved in training of Nigerian graduates in various entrepreneurial skills, with a passion to promote skills development in the country.