In contributing to the youth empowerment narrative towards strengthening and building capacity of young entrepreneurs, MTN Nigeria has introduced Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP) for young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The programme offers a line of credit, valuable training and mentorship opportunities to eligible young entrepreneurs.
YEDP candidates are recipients of the MTN Foundation’s Annual Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme and the Scholarship Scheme for Blind Students, which provide awardees in Federal Government tertiary institutions with financial support to cover their tuition fees, book allowance and stipend, from second year till graduation.
Fifty successful participants will receive loan support of up to N2million each with a grant of 10percent on the principal amount. The loan is repayable after 36 months at an interest rate of 5percent with six months moratorium. The MTN Foundation engaged the services of BoI, based on its expertise as an administrative partner to drive the implementation of this initiative.
Odunayo Sanya, acting executive secretary, MTN Foundation, said the telecommunication company decided to give loans so as to create a sense of responsibility in dealing with funds for their businesses.
“In addition to our employability workshops, we have taken a step further with the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme, by ensuring that these bright minds have access to the funds required to take an active part in building their businesses and support their families and communities,” Sanya said.
According to her, unemployment is one of the biggest challenges for Nigerian graduates.
“There are more young people than the available jobs and we decided to provide a solution to this,” she said.
Sanya further said that only participants whose business plan fulfil the criteria of viability and sustainability would be awarded the loan.
YEDP started with online and in-class trainings for the candidates which were facilitated by experts from the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos and Bank of Industry (BoI). Beneficiaries later pitched their business plans to a panel of judges, comprising experts in various industries, while candidates’ business ideas cover various sectors of the economy including agriculture, ICT, health, beauty and fashion, oil and gas, education, among others.
SEYI JOHN SALAU
