Henkel Reaffirms Commitment to Entrepreneurship Development
Henkel Nigeria has restated its commitment to entrepreneurship development by creating job opportunities for the nation’s growing population.
Indeed, Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33 per cent up from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Henkel Nigeria in a statement said its Street-Smart Entrepreneur (SSE) corporate social initiative it started in 2019 seeks to reduce the level of unemployment in Nigeria
According to Henkel, the SSE initiative, where Nigerians can leverage Henkel’s products to earn a living, is an avenue to grow by converting the unemployed into entrepreneurs while developing the economy and communities at the same time.
It is a self-sustainable initiative where the beneficiaries are consistently engaged. The talents are trained and equipped with the knowledge to be entrepreneurs and provided with tools for the business, across their different locations.
The Managing Director, Rajat Kapur, said the initiative came about as a means to contribute to human capital development through entrepreneurial skills training, and also job creation by empowering youths with the tools for the business.
Kapur said the initiative, which started in 2019, but slowed down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has 160 SSEs already recruited, who have reached 216,000 consumers across Nigeria. He said the detergent manufacturer in the country intends to recruit 260 SSEs by year-end 2021, and by 2026, the target is 5,000 SSEs would have been recruited.
He said the individuals are selected and trained in entrepreneurship skills to become SSEs, and the training includes classroom and field lessons in branding, bookkeeping, trading, and other skills necessary to make them self-reliant and successful in life.
“With 77 percent of the SSEs already earning over the minimum wage, the new SSEs will be equipped with the tools for the trade – pushcart, cycle cart, motorized cart- to aid their spread all over the country, including the rural areas’’, he asserted.
The SSEs spread Henkel products - WAW and Nittol, to consumers and stores that are not covered by Henkel’s conventional sales team and make money for themselves and their families in the process.
Rufa’I Adam, an SSE in Nassarawa state explained his experience as an SSE, “I did not have anything to wake up to, I would just walk around with my friends trying to do anything possible to eat. Now I am able to fully support my unemployed mother and myself. I am so happy to now have a purpose, thanks to Henkel, I am part of a business family.