PAN MD tasks youth on innovation, entrepreneurship

The Managing Director of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN), Kaduna, Ibrahim Boyi, has tasked youth on innovation and entrepreneurship for faster economic growth.

Boyi spoke in a key note address at the opening of the 6th series of Innovention Roundtable jointly organized by PAN and Verdant Zeal yesterday in Kaduna.

The theme of the event was “How innovation drives entrepreneurship; the case for SMEs & Start-Ups.”

Boyi said stakeholders, especially government must respond to new knowledge as well as the fundamental changes in demographics and technology for growth and sustainability of the economy.

He urged governments to invest more in education with special attention to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.

Declaring the event open, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Manzo Maigari, said there has to be paradigm shift in the way things are done in Africa.

The Governor said Nigeria failed in the past to follow the global shift to agricultural revolution and was left behind.

The Executive Vice Chairman of Verdant Zeal, Dr Tunji Olugbidi, said the focus was on SMEs, entrepreneurship and startups because they represented Nigeria’s growth engine for today and the future.