Abuja enterprise agency, ILO to scale up youth empowerment
The Managing Director/ CEO, Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA), Muhammad Arabi Tukur, says the agency has assisted over 73,450 individuals and businesses with critical business support and access to finance in the past 10 years.
Tukur was speaking during the visit of the Director General, International Labour Organization (ILO), Mr Guy Ryder, to the agency on Friday.
“In over 10 years of supporting businesses in the
FCT and beyond, the agency has assisted over 73,450 individuals and businesses (90% of whom are youths) with critical business support such as business clinics, access to finance, counselling, sensitization, workspace and market linkage and many more,” Tukur said.
He said the agency has also supported 31,100 rural entrepreneurs in 160 communities with capacity building trainings, access to finance, provision of equipment and in other critical areas.
These are just some of the few achievements the agency has attained over the years, he added.
The MD/CEO said though the agency has achieved some level of success, it was still reaching out to one of its partners - the International Labour Organization (ILO), Nigeria Office - towards scaling up and building new projects in various locations in the FCT.
One of the beneficiaries, of the skills acquisition programme, Mrs Enyiaka Hope, said from the training, she has set up her business from which she earns money to cater for her family.
In his response, the ILO Director General, Mr. Guy Ryder, said the challenge now is simply to scale up.
“There are wonderful examples of successes but we know there are a lot of people out there who need decent work opportunities. There are a lot of young people looking for a place in their world of work, so it’s just doing more. I glad with what they are doing but we need to scale up,” he said.