Building Youth Capacity
Jonathan Eze writes on why unemployed youths should key into the Bank of Industry’s youth entrepreneurship support programme
The Bank of Industry (BoI) has intervened with the Youth Entrepreneurship Support Programme (YES) in order to rescue the critical and astronomical rise in unemployment levels, particularly among the youths.
Figures available paint a dire situation of millions of Nigerian youths roaming the streets looking for work but finding none. The situation is compounded by the economic recession that has necessitated the sacking, by many private enterprises, of their staff in the name of rationalisation.
The clear and present danger of such a high level of idleness among young persons are already manifest in the high level of strife and crimes in virtually every corner of the country. Whereas the multitude of violent outbursts might have religious and ethnic colorations and undertones, it is a notorious fact that most of the people in the fields and trenches of war are youths who if otherwise meaningfully engaged would have been unavailable for those worthless anti-social endeavours.
However, it is noteworthy that youth unemployment is a worldwide challenge. For instance, India with one of the largest populations of young people in the world has 75 million unemployed youths. But the Nigerian government, particularly the President Muhammadu Buhari administration that came to power on the back of an electioneering promise to create jobs for the unemployed, is creatively doing so with the BoI under the leadership of Mr. Olukayode Pitan, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Industrialists and other business minded individuals and organisations are aware that they can get cheap or single-digit funds (often at 9percent lending rate) from the BoI.
This development finance institution (DFI) has been rated by many local and international agencies as one of the best managed banks in the world. The BoI has a number of funds that entrepreneurs of all levels can access. First is the Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund (GEF), which is meant for serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Candidates are allowed to submit their business ideas, which are then reviewed by a team of experts. The NYSC members whose ideas are marketable and bankable are then selected, trained for four weeks and then given between N500,000 and N2 million.
There are also the Cottage Agro Processing (CAP) Fund for small and medium agro processors; Nolly Fund for players in the Nollywood industry, as well as Fashion Fund for designers and other players in the value chain.
In fact, the bank has other matching and managed funds, including a fund for the automotive industry. Through 122 business development experts, entrepreneurs can access funds easily. It is also easy to access some of the bank’s products through its website.
However, the (YES) Programme is BoI’s effort at addressing the worrisome phenomenon of youth unemployment in Nigeria by building the capacity of the youths and funding their business ideas. The YES programme is aimed at equipping young people with the requisite skills and knowledge to be self-employed by starting and managing their own businesses.
According to information on the Bank’s website, participants will be drawn from young aspiring entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 years, with innovative ideas who must have a minimum educational qualification of an Ordinary National Diploma (OND).
The YES-Programme is comprised of the following components: “Eight (8) weeks extensive online Entrepreneurship and Business Management training which has the ability to test participants’ understanding and track their progress.
“Five (5) days in-class Entrepreneurship and Business Management training covering the following five (5) modules: The business idea (value proposition & competition analysis); Business model (how will the business make money); Running a successful business (ethics, compliance, operations, etc.), Technical skills training in partnership with the various technical training and vocational institutes in the country.”
The YES-Programme has the following broad objectives: “To create an interactive learning platform to train young aspiring entrepreneurs in entrepreneurship, business management and technical skills that will ultimately translate into improved efficiency and productivity;
“to kindle the entrepreneurial spirit of the youths; “to act as an incubation center where business ideas are nurtured to their full potential as well as entrenching global best practices by inculcating a culture of innovation-driven entrepreneurship and ethics in the programme participants; to promotion of self-employment among graduates of institutions of higher learning, thereby changing their job-seeking mindset and to deepen financial inclusion by de-risking the young aspiring entrepreneurs and making them eligible for small business loans to be provided by BoI.
On the operational framework that will produce the desired results, the bank said 10,000 online applications will be solicited nationwide, out of which 2,000 would be selected for the online training component of the YES programme.
“Applicants will register online and will be expected to provide accurate answers to questions. Such answers count towards determining the suitability of the applicants for the training programme. Only the top 1,200 online participants will qualify for the in-class training programme annually.
“The in-class trainings will be delivered by BoI accredited partner Training Institutes and shall take place on a bi-annual basis at selected centres spread across the six geo-political zones. Hence, 600 participants shall be trained at the designated locations bi-annually.
“The final evaluation and selection of the candidates that will qualify for funding under the YES-Programme, will be by a seven-man panel made up of senior management staff of the Bank and other eminent members made up of successful entrepreneurs, professionals, retired bankers, etc.”
Youths are not the only beneficiaries of the bank’s interventions programmes. Last year, (BoI) launched an interest-free loan for women artisans, market women and small holder farmers under the National Women Empowerment Fund (NAWEF) intervention scheme.
NAWEF is an aspect of the federal government’s Social Intervention Programme (SIP) designed exclusively for women and administered by BoI to issue interest free loans to successful applicants. At the unveiling of the pilot phase for the disbursement of the Fund in Uyo, Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Aisha Jummai Alhassan, stated that eight states, including Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Osun, Abia, Nasarawa and Jigawa were initially selected for the pilot phase where women can access N200 million in loans (starting from N10,000 to N100,000).
To enhance the success of the intervention exercise, Alhassan emphasised the need to collaborate with state ministries to enhance participation of women. She said: “Statistics have shown that women are mostly involved in the agric value chain as small holder farmers. “Government decided to intervene in the area of provision of access to markets for their produce. The Social Investment Intervention Programme is hinged on five pillars. Four of the pillars of the programme have taken off. The fifth one is underway.
The intervention exercise has increased enrolment of the girl-child in school and empowered many women.”
In her remark, Senior Manager, Micro Enterprises, BoI, Aisha Abdullahi, explained that Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is exactly like NAWEF, noting however that NAWEF is only for women unlike GEEP which both men and women can benefit from. “The reason for this difference is to ensure that more women have access to interventions in order not to be crowded out by men. GEEP has already started and the verification process is like that of NAWEF. You fill a form and submit through BoI office or state ministry of women affairs and those forms will be sent to us. Agents will contact you for verification and you will pay back in six months if the application is successful,” she added. Meanwhile, the GEEP programme has also benefitted thousands of micro business owners – market women, traders, artisans and farmers. Sterling Bank Plc, partnered BoI for the pilot phase of the N140 billion Government Enterprise Empowerment Program (GEEP).
The programme was targeted at over 16 million beneficiaries to foster financial inclusion and economic activity at the micro level. Sterling bank disclosed then that it was appointed because of its commitment in serving the segment of the population via its Agent Banking Scheme.
Agent Banking is a process of providing limited scale banking and financial services to the under-served population through engaged agents under a valid agency agreement, rather than a teller/ cashier. It is the owner of an outlet who conducts banking transactions on behalf of a bank.
Under the pilot phase, Sterling Bank disbursed loans ranging from N10,000 to N100,000 per beneficiary covering up to 15,000 beneficiaries. Target beneficiaries included market sellers and traders, artisans, enterprising youths and farmers.
The Bank explained how it works: “The fund is being provided by BoI and a collection account has been opened for BoI with the Bank. BoI, through selected aggregators, enumerates beneficiaries from pre-registered market or trade associations in selected locations across the nation based on set qualifying criteria.
“The list of successful beneficiaries is sent to the Bank and our agents will open accounts for them via our mobile agent banking application. A loan request is logged on the Credit Assessment system and successful requests are submitted to BoI for approval for disbursement. BoI will therefore advise with the list of beneficiaries approved to receive the loans based on set criteria and bear all financial liability associated with the loans issued under this scheme”.