No fewer than 1,000 entrepreneurs, otherwise called STEPreneurs and YAGEPrenuers, have indicated interest to participate and showcase their products in the up-coming STEP and YAGEP Exhibition and Business Fair holding in Asaba, the Delta State capital, next week.
The event, slated for December 13 and 14, is expected to host over 4,000 attendees from all parts of the state, including top government functionaries, public institutions, chambers of commerce, prominent personalities, politicians, businessmen as well as other interested persons across the state.
Chief Job Creation Officer of the state, Eric Eboh, made the disclosure at a media briefing held at the conference hall of the Job Creation Office, Asaba.
He said 2,324 persons including 51 persons living with disability had been trained and established in the enterprise of their choice since the job creation programme commenced over two years ago. He also revealed that not less than 1,000 out of this number have indicated interest to showcase their products at the two-day event.
The exhibition and business fair, which would hold at the Cenotraph, Asaba, has its theme as “Nurturing Entrepreneurs, Creating Wealth.” Eboh said the event would be the first of its kind in the country.
According to Eboh, it would showcase STEPrenuers and YAGEPreneurs who were trained and established by the state government under its Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) and Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) and thereby offer them a platform and ladder for growth and sustenance.
He disclosed that the event would provide STEPrenuers and YAGEPrenuers an opportunity to exhibit and market their and business enterprises; make vital business contacts; create business relationships with investors; and communicate their business vision to banks and business support institutions from within and outside Delta State.
“The goal of the exhibition and business fair is to demonstrate the outcomes of STEP and YAGEP since inception of this administration and elicit buy-ins from national and international (bilateral, multilateral) development agencies and partners,” he said.
He added, “The buy-ins are vital for increased and sustained resource flow, national and international endorsement of the STEP/YAGEP model.”
The event organised by an inter-agency planning committee comprising ministries, departments and agencies.
It is built around STEPreneurs and YAGEPreneurs, he said. The object is to promote and uplift them to greater heights through exceptional exposure to new markets, new ideasand new contacts. Hence, the event focuses on the STEPrenuers and YAGEPreneurs.
He said STEPrenuers and YAGEPreneurs were being intensively prepared and mobilised for the exhibition and business fair. “These participants were selected based on expression of interest through a combination of survey techniques including state-wide registration drive, physical interactive sessions across the state and telephone calls.
