For years, Uduak Obong-Mensah dreamt of establishing his own business. She has achieved this through, Menudys Concept, a firm which trains youths in cake making, writes DANIEL ESSIET.

Uduak  Obong-Mensah is the founder of Menudys Concept. She started as an interior decorator 12 years ago,with N100,000 when the area was little known.

Later she found an opportunity in cake business. An accountant, who had been working for some years, she realised that she had a passion for cakes. She started from Calabar and moved to Port Harcourt.

With assistance from friends, the venture is flourishing. It has 10 permanent and15 casual staff members.

She makes cakes with customised designs for occasions ranging from birthdays and engagements to home-comings and graduations.

She said what set her apart are her cakes’ unique taste and flavour.

Obong-Mensah said it took her some time to grow the business. She got past self-doubts through motivation by others.

Her perseverance, love for helping others and learning from them has helped her.

Yet, she wouldn’t consider herself a master in cake designing because “like any other form of art, there’s never a finish line”.

In recent years, she learnt how to use the social media. The practice is working as she is among top women bakers one must follow on the social media.

Obong-Mensah learnt that having referrals and backings is very important. She participated in wedding expos and other events to help spread her name.

Besides this, to promote the sub-sector, she’s working with others to hold a wedding fair.

Her biggest challenge is time management. But she has remained focused. What has helped her most is keeping her thoughts organised. With the cost of living and inflation getting worse, her business like others has not been spared. The prices of all the raw materials in baking have gone up, and it is challenging to keep prices at a minimal.

Perhaps what has made Uduak-Obong succeed is her adherence to customers’ satisfaction. She said “passion for customers, integrity, excellence, team work, mutual respect” are the core value that guides her business.

In a competitive market where many clients get raw deals, her strategy has also been to flow with international trends.

As part of her corporate social responsibility, she is offering free training on event design, floral arrangement, and baking and still intends to offer more.

The post From accounting to cake baking appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

In Cross River State, an innovator  Emmanuel Ntiti has fabricated machines that convert cassava to ethanol, writes Daniel Essiet.

The machines for processing cassava into ethanol are scarce and expensive.

But there is good news for farmers and producers. A Cross River State-based innovator and fabricator, Emmanuel Ntiti, has developed machines for processing cassava into ethanol.

A Senior Technical Instructor at the Government Technical School, Calabar, Ntiti has developed a range of machines for small scale business owners. His agricultural background helped him to identify the various problems that farmers at the grassroots face. He then thought of how to help them. His quest led him to design and produce agriculture machines.

Ntiti said his machine breaks waste biomass into ethanol, thereby reducing costs through savings on maintenance, production time and capital expenditures, for farmers using cassava.

The equipment, made of iron and steel, has a distillation system.

Ntiti is ready to deploy the technology to all parts of the country, especially rural areas where cassava is in abundance.

He plans to deliver rural development through an industrialisation strategy anchored on building affordable machines to help farmers produce more.

Converting cassava to ethanol, according to him, will ensure that rural communities are empowered with sustainable jobs that bring about wealth and emancipation of rural Nigerians.

In view of the perishable nature of cassava, he is encouraging processing to be done in rural areas.

According to him, his dream is to produce affordable machinery. To boost agriculture, Ntiti urges farmers to embrace machines.

The post Converting cassava to ethanol appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

The Bayelsa Government will sustain its support to indigenous Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) to stimulate the state’s economy, create wealth and generate employment.

The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Markson Daniel-Iworiso, gave the assurance after interacting with some beneficiaries of the state’s micro-credit scheme for SMEs.

Daniel-Iworiso commended the Bayelsa Micro Finance and Enterprises Development Agency (BYMEDA) for ensuring that entrepreneurs took advantage of the opportunities offered by agency.

He commended the Izon Ebe Micro Finance Bank for assisting in developing businesses in the state.

He noted that the micro finance bank was playing a pivotal role in ensuring that investors in the state got facilities from commercial banks.

Earlier, BYMEDA Director-General, Mr Ebiekure Eradiri, conducted the commissioner round the premises of some SMEs across the state.

Eradiri informed the commissioner that SMEs in the state were enjoying funding and training support from the government.

Some of the indigenous business concerns visited included Big Shoe Corporate EL and DE Integrated and Akpowaiwai Agro Resources.

Others were King Koko Express, Pede Farms and Resort, and Izon Bakumo Enterprise, a welding company managed by Esther Bakumo.

The post ‘We are growing SMEs to drive Bayelsa’s economy’ appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

ENTREPRENEURS have been advised to be determined and patient, if they want to succeed.

An official of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Yinka Fisher gave the advice at a two-day workshop held in Kirikiri for Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Lagos Command officials by the Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN) in conjunction with the Covenant University (CU) and Institute of Entrepreneurs.

Fisher, who represented the director-general, said entrepreneurs should also be time managers, risk calculators, innovative, visioners and problem-solvers, if they really wanted to be achievers.

He advised the prison officials  that one day they would quit service either by resigning or retiring, and that it would be good for them to prepare now, instead of being taken unawares.

He also advised the officers to use their spare time while in service to start a business and nurture it to fruition. He however added that not everyone could go into business.

A Professor of Civil Engineering,  Covenant University (CU),Ota, Ogun State, David Olukanni advised officers to see their work as service to God and mankind.

Olukanni, who represented the varsity’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Aderemi Aaron-Anthony Atayero, said the prisons officers should look beyond their uniform and use their talent to serve the country. He noted that everyone has a role to play in nation building. Every one, he said, a responsibility.

A Professor of Psychology in the varsity, Olujide Adekeye, who spoke on leadership, said the subject is easy to learn but difficult to practise. ‘’No one is an expert in leadership,’’ he submitted.

He listed seven leadership skills as communication, goal setting, motivation, team building, change leading, conflict management and coaching. He attributed causes of leadership failure to be inability to organise details, unwillingness to provide support, fear of competition from followers, lack of imagination and emphasis on authority.

To avert leadership challenges, Adekeye said there should be clarity of purpose, team building, communication and mechanism for dealing with conflicts.

PFN Executive Director Ben Iwuagwu said the objective of the group is to share the love of God with prison inmates. At a point, he said, the group discovered that it was not enough to preach but to also train the inmates. It was for this that the Life Recovery Pre-release Empowerment Programme (ONISEMUS Project) of the association was launched to cater to the needs of the inmates, he said.

Iwuagwu praised CU for partnering PFN, saying that their assistance over the years was noteworthy. He urged the prison officers to use the knowledge they would gain from the training to do their work better. He also thanked SMEDAN for its help to the organisation.

The post Tips for successful entrepreneurship, by SMEDAN, others appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Women’s  economic  empowerment  is  essential  for  more  inclusive  growth  in Nigeria. It is for this that the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is partnering the Mall For Africa to increase the participation of women in e-retailing and export trade, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is targeting more women for the global market by 2020. It hopes to achieve this by ensuring that women entrepreneurs are better equipped to create and position products to meet buyers’ requirements and to compete in global markets.

Speaking in Lagos, during the Women Empowerment For Global Market Access 2020 programme organised by Mall for Africa (MFA), NEPC Zonal Coordinator, Southwest, Mr. Babatunde Faleke, said the organisation, in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, plans to train more women entrepreneurs in Nigeria on how to explore export trade.

Under its SheTrades initiative, Faleke said ITC would provide women entrepreneurs across the world access to a global network and to connect to markets.

Through SheTrades, he explained, ITC aims to connect one million women entrepreneurs to the market by 2020. It would also help corporations to include more women entrepreneurs in their supply chains, he said. Faleke said the best way to grow the economy was to improve on the volume of exports, adding that the programme would enable small businesses benefit from export opportunities.

The platform, according to him, is aimed at increasing the participation of women in the export sector as part of the drive to industrialise for a sustainable economic future for Nigeria. He reiterated the determination of the council to strengthen the economic empowerment of women to enable them to participate equally in the  export  market.

He stressed that encouraging and supporting women’s contributions to trade c would not only propel the economic growth but also transform local communities.

In the face of heightened global challenges, increasing gaps in the income divide and more challenging economic climates, the Managing Director, Mall for Africa, Tope Folayan, noted that empowering women to participate in economic life across all sectors had become imperative to attain internationally accepted goals for development and sustainability.

To support this, Folayan said his organisation is focusing more attention on the mainstreaming of gender in its entrepreneurship projects.

Folayan said MFA created WE-GMAP 2020 platform to accelerate economic growth through increased participation of Nigerian women in global trade.

In partnership with NEPC, Folayan said MFA was working to move women up the export value chain and increase their economic potential.

Folayan said MFA is able to leverage its international presence in United States, United Kingdom, Kenya and Nigeria, to provide cross border market opportunities for both import and export.

According to him, MFA runs an online marketplace where buyers from across the world can purchase products offered for sale by African women from the comfort of their homes and/or offices.

The Programme Coordinator MallforAfrica WE GMAP 2020, Liz Oluwadare explained that MFA is Africa’s largest online e-commerce enabler which provides Africans with a simple, secure and convenient platform through which customers can purchase items directly from over 150 international online retailers. These include online platform, such as Amazon, Macy’s, eBay, Ralph Lauren and Zara. According to her, many of these stores and brands would otherwise be scarcely accessible to the African consumers.  Through its patented technology, she explained that customers in Africa could now buy and sell globally.

She said granting African women access to markets for their African made products, offers an uncommon opportunity to harness existing resources, promote inclusive market systems development, boost economic growth and achieve sustainable development goals.  The ‘MFA WE-GMAP 2020’ programme, according to her is expected to achieve these and more. She added that the programme aims to enable 20,000 women entrepreneurs across Africa sell their products globally via an online market place. The programme, she added, is expected to have over two million unique items for sale by women entrepreneurs by 2020.

Her words: “It is the goal that by 2020, MFA WE-GMAP would have built the capacity of at least 20,000 women to export their products, by improving quality standards, providing access to international markets, offering avenues for financing, and providing various forms of technical assistance to women entrepreneurs across Africa. The initial focus industries are: fashion, clothing and textile, arts and crafts, jewelry and accessories, home décor, cosmetics, and educational materials.”

She said MFA would provide technical assistance and build the capacity of women to export through training on technology, business and standards for global competitiveness.

Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) President, Mrs. Funmi Ladipo-Ajala, commended MFA for creating a platform for women to sell their goods with the long-term goal of expanding exports sustainably. For her, ensuring that women take on a greater role in business is crucial to the development of Nigeria.

By supporting women entrepreneurs to access more markets, she noted that the programme would contribute to creating a more vibrant economy.

On the economic impact of the fashion sector, Mrs. Ladipo-Ajala said  it has potential to create jobs, add value to raw materials and develop ingenuity.

She added that, like in so many other sectors, though the ideas and the capacity exist among the talented entrepreneurs in developing countries, there is a need to bring them closer to the market.

The post Promoting women’s economic empowerment appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Nigeria is witnessing an increase in start-up businesses, as more young people take up the challenge of creating employment, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Amid challenges, there is a tech revolution: the birth of a start-up culture.

Young entrepreneurs are creating everything from taxi services to portable solar firms.

Despite the economic meltdown, there is hope for start-ups. The tech sector is one of the few areas the nation can create jobs and grow the economy.

To this end, new business incubators’ goal is to train young tech entrepreneurs to use technology to solve problems across sectors, including creative and digital.

Country Mentor to Google Developers in Nigeria Hanson Johnson was surprised by the lack of incubation capacity in Akwa Ibom State.

He saw the need for a support programme for start-ups run by passionate people, the community and business networks.

Taking advantage of this, Johnson established an innovation hub that provides a co-working space, and pre-incubator for tech start-ups.

For him, an incubator supports innovation businesses and attracts talents that will strengthen the economy and create more and better jobs.

Though with a digital focus, Johnson is happy that the Start Innovation Hub produces young innovators that have provided solutions across areas and really added value to it.

Since then, Akwa Ibom State, where the business is based, is witnessing an increase in start-up businesses, as more youths take up the challenge of creating their employment. They aren’t short of ideas as Johnson works with entrepreneurs to showcase their various innovations at the centre.

The products that have come out of the hub include Jiggle- an online platform that enable students buy affordable meal plans to enable them eat throughout the month, even when they are broke.

Jiggle, Johnson explained, enables students pay once, eat whenever and wherever, save money, stay focused in their academics while food vendors grow their businesses and gain insight into their business.

Jiggle, according to him, was founded by a team of developers incubated in the hub.

He said Jiggle seeks to position itself as the most-widely used student-feeding platform in Nigeria and, eventually, in Africa.

One winning application coming from the hub is AfroPot – a lifestyle app that makes having lunch during work hours fun. It enables users to place order for food from their favourite restaurants while AfroPot picks and delivers at your office or home without hassles.

Apart from delivering plates of food, AfroPot also delivers pots of soup, such as 2.5-to four-litre bowl. Payments are flexible as you can pay on delivery.

The hub has won many awards. They include KOLA Awards 2014 sponsored by Miles Morland Foundation, United Kingdom (UK), NASA International Space Apps Challenge Nigeria 2015, Ibom Future Youth Prize on ICT 2016, LEAP Africa Award of Excellence on Technology Entrepreneurship 2016 and USPF Change maker Challenge 2017.

According to him, the hub offers seed funding, mentorship and access to business expertise. Others include exposure to networking opportunities, peer review, pitch development, product testing and introduction to investors. Dozens of entrepreneurs collaborate on new ideas, apps, and software.

Johnson is delighted that young entrepreneurs, fresh out of university and inspired by the revolutions, are taking risks, launching businesses, and hoping to build a better future – for them and for the state.

He hopes they will turn Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, into the world’s next technology hub.

Business incubation centres have attracted Nigerians in  the Diaspora – and their money, skills, and experience – back to Nigeria creating a supportive ecosystem. Co-working spaces and fabrication labs are also providing places for young tech entrepreneurs to learn skills.

Many experts see business and tech-hubs as having a natural future partnership with universities and research and development centres.

The substantial impact of these initiatives, according to Director General Niger State Industrial Parks Development Agency, Dr  Abdulmalik Ndagi, has been increased awareness of start-ups.

He said youths are getting more curious and willing to experiment with their start-ups.

According to him, the nation needs a supportive ecosystem of networks, and co-working spaces are emerging to help them navigate the system, fuelling a new culture of entrepreneurship.

Ndagi said the government-backed technology incubators have had a ripple effect on the start-up culture, encouraging the establishment of private incubators.

However, there is still a long way to go on the understanding and implementation of the start-up culture while a more active role of universities, tech industry and the business community is required.

For him, hope for young entrepreneurs might be soaring, but there’s more to it than just being a youth with ideas.

The post The start-up revolution appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

In the growth sector, small businesses are, particularly, success stories as they out-perform others. DANIEL ESSIET identifies promising business opportunities for entrepreneurs to explore.

Nigeria is a land of opportunities. There are hundreds of profitable small businesses one can start with less than N500,000. They are:

Mobile restaurants and food kiosks

Nigerians still patronise mobile food restaurants and delivery services. Eating on the go is a viable alternative to a sit-down restaurant. Getting home cooked food in office is a blessing for the hard worker.

In cities, such as Lagos, there are early rising workers who move out early to meet their busy schedules. They want good meals. What workers prefer is ready-to-eat meals delivered fresh. For delivery, one needs to invest on a transport vehicle.

Workers want food freshly-delivered and prompt like ordering a take-out from a restaurant.

One can start delivery in an area and expand later. Starting small is a lot better than not starting at all. One needs a small space, disposable utensils and food containers. If the business is conducted in a home, the food delivery kitchen must be separated from the family kitchen and must conform to restaurant standards.

The strategy to succeed is to cook good recipes. Think of signature dishes and start perfecting them.

The challenge of this business is that as customers increase, the quality of dishes decrease. One must ensure quality control and target the number of customers to serve daily. If you love baking cookies, cakes, or any pastries,  you might as well share your awesome skill to the world.

Clothing business

Clothing is a reliable business. One can start small with N100, 000.

Most Nigerians opt for budget clothing and will patronise sellers provide quality and affordable items. Many people looking for budget clothing will buy used clothes known as bend-down boutique.

Laundry & dry cleaning service

 Having a good laundry business means a good fortune. The better option is to have a mobile laundry pickup and delivery services. One can start from a small shop. Start out with one or two-washing machines and a dryer. It is not a labour-intensive operation.

Day care centre

 At present, most families have both parents working. Thus, they need a reliable day care centre, in which they can entrust their children while they are at work.

The post Some investment windows in 2018 appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Bayo Lion Adedeji, an entrepreneur and CEO of Dundu Nations, an eatery known for local delicacies has urged Nigerians to invest in small businesses that are one hundred percent local in content.

Adedeji, whose vision is to create companies that encourage local contents, made the call while speaking about challenges affecting entrepreneurs in the country.

Speaking in an Interview with The Nation, Bayo outlined some of the challenges such as access to loan, regulation changes, changing environment, access to raw material as well as logistics problem.

Dundu Nation which began two years is gradually growing and today, it has about four outlets in Lagos with plans of opening more soon.

“People need to invest in businesses that are 100 percent local content due to various business challenges in Nigeria. Despite challenges, we are growing too fast than we can open outlets and that is why we want people to come and join us through franchise. This gives you the opportunity to own your business 100 percent once you pay franchise rate.”

Little wonder, he has decided to franchise his company name to people as he hopes to have 100 locations where he produces and packages the local delicacy called” Dundu Nation” in the next eighteen months.

He revealed that he decided to set up more outlets in order to meet peoples demand. Business can only flourish when you understand that customers are always right. Bayo is always standing around interacting with customers to know if they are satisfied or not with the services rendered.

Justifying the preparation of various local delicacies Bayo who is fondly referred to as “father of Dundu Nation” considers expanding his business by venturing into other local foods to the admiration of Nigerians.

He said food with local content are very rich and beneficial for digestive system and helps the body to grow and prevents constipation.” Our combinations has protein, carbohydrates, Vitamin etc. which forms a balanced diet”

The post ‘Entrepreneurs should invest in local content businesses’ appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

The Chief Executive, Menog Publishing, Henry Omenogor, is encouraging people to use their kitchen and backyard ovens to bake fresh bread to create opportunities for entrepreneurs, writes DANIEL ESSIET.

Akute, an Ogun State suburb, may not be the place to find your formula of success, but the Chief Executive, Menog Publishing, and owner of a micro bakery, Henry Omenogo,   is attracting people with his baking skills and do-it-yourself knowledge of how to run a successful micro-bread business.

His philosophy is akin to what the people say: “You taste once and you will be back.” His approach does not require a crackling crust, but a simple micro oven with a wheaty flavour, wholesome ingredients and passionate craftsmanship.

Omenogor is spreading a subtle revolution in bread business. This is because he is raising a generation of micro bakers, training those ready to raise up to N100,000. He teaches them how to make simple delicious bread, which can be done from their residences, using home kitchens.

Omenogor has come a long way. He moved from Lagos to Ghana in search of better opportunities where he started an internet business, and branched into giving seminars, attracting attendance until he had some challenges.  As an acknowledged information consultant, menial jobs were unfamiliar to him, and he spent many days dreaming about what to do until he dreamt of bread baking business. He became acquainted with many bakers in Ghana in the search for advice on how to start his own business. Eventually, he trained in a local bakery, which opened his eyes to opportunities in micro-bread business.

He exemplifies how micro-bakers can make living, selling loaves of bread—made with freshly milled flour and baked in his backyard oven—to a few local shops. The early success  convinced him to branch into ice cream and yoghurt making.  Today, his operations have grown to include a training school in addition to a burgeoning presence in Ghana. Like many micro-bakers, he sells his bread anywhere and encourages others that micro-baking is the next step in bread making. Micro-bakers, he said, seek unique grain and do the milling themselves, using processes that allow oils in the grain to permeate the flour with flavour and aroma.

With this, some bakers can graduate to larger businesses. He told The Nation that there is  great demand for the bread he produces, adding that it forms part of a bigger trend. He feels happy that his bread business has turned into a venture where people can copy and create sustainable means of livelihood. His branded Ghana bread, do not just taste good, it is a resounding commercial success. He said though  using only highest-quality ingredients will be  okay, operating costs will be higher than average, and there is no way prices can  reflect those costs.

Right now, the industry is going through a lot of changes and it is becoming very difficult for small businesses  to have an opportunity to prove their concept. He has set up a training school to teach Nigerians and Ghanaians how to set up a micro bread bakery from home with micro oven.

What Omenogor is doing is to position the business to better respond to Nigerians who are snacking more and consuming greater amounts of yoghurts.

The post How a bread maker hit success  appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

No fewer than 1,500 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members have completed various skill empowerment training at at the Wamakko NYSC Orientation camp in Sokoto State.

Addressing the trainees after inspecting an exhibition of finished products, the state NYSC Coordinator, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, said the trainees were of the 2017 Batch ‘B’, Stream 2, comprising corps members from Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamafara states.

Abubakar said the skills were on shoe and bag making, pomade and soap making, tailoring and knitting, fishery and animal husbandry, video and photography, electrical installations, cosmetology, food processing and other businesses.

He said the NYSC partnered some agencies to impart business skills to corps members for them to be productive during and after service.

Abubakar said the trainees were also trained on designing business development plans and management techniques.

He said the Bank of Industry (BoI), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Heritage Bank and poverty eradication agencies would grant loans ranging from N1 million to N3 million to some corps members.

“At present, 10 corps members have established business outfits based on the training they received and are prepared to stay in Sokoto after the service year,” the coordinator said.

He enjoined NYSC  members to continue with the businesses in recognition of hardship faced by graduates in securing jobs, noting that businesses could transform their lives.

Abubakar said the corps members were posted to states to understand their cultural values and have knowledge of environment different from theirs to inculcate in them a sense of patriotism for national development.

He praised the Sokoto State government for donating 2000 mattresses and 1000 beds to the camp as well as its renovation.

The post 1,500 corps members get skills training appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Producing and inspiring entrepreneurs is not seen as a priority for most universities. Several organisations have introduced promising initiatives. One of such is Techpoint Build whose Techpoint Build 2018 was held in Lagos to expose young innovators to investors.

To experts, entrepreneurship is a boom to a country in a fix on how to employ its growing youth population.

Over the last one decade, Nigeria has witnessed the influx of people who have experience in the tech and startup world moving in to help move the ecosystem forward. One of this is Techpoint Build which   held its forum in Lagos. It was for startups, scale-ups, investors, and other innovators and featured thematic events.

Techpoint CEO, Adewale Yusuf said it’s all about helping startups raise money, attract talent, and connect with peers, founders, venture capitalists, corporates, and policy makers.  Yusuf said the event was meant to connect entrepreneurs with funding and resources.

He said the event focused on how to impact startups and scale-ups that are working on innovations that make Nigeria a better place.

According to him, the bigger problem for Nigerian startups is securing the funding. He said through the platform, aspiring entrepreneurs and tech startups would be given  opportunity to present their business ideas or solutions for market commercialisation.

The day was filled with an exciting programme with inspirational speakers, a pitch session and useful  opportunities between (tech) startups, investors, international organisations, developers, and corporates.

Panelists  during  the session, themed “Keeping a business afloat”, were Go-To- Market Lead at Zoto, Osaze Osoba; Chief Transformation Officer, MTN, Adebayo Adekanmbi; (Developer Community Manager, Flutterwave, Modupe Durosimi-Etti and CEO, Skarabrand, Raymond Umeh.  Panelists encouraged startups to contribute to solving challenges.

According to them, offering simple solutions serves as a test case of how young entrepreneurs can contribute to resolving big challenges. As soon as the panel session was over, the first pitch session was conducted. Placements, myPadi and Gerocare,were the service category startups who pitched to judges.

The judges included: Chief Executive, Vconnect, Depankar Rustagi; a Senior Executive at MTN, Olanike Jagun; and Founder, Microtraction, Yele Bademosi).

On the pitch side, The Footwear Academy, Wemove and Legitcar, were startups under the productivity category that tried to win the new set of judges over. After thorough consideration by a jury, the winner was Placements, an Internship classified site. It went home with N1 million. Founded last year, Placements is a platform that allows job seekers find paid internship opportunities across Nigeria. During the selection before the forum, 165 entries were  shortlisted. Out of this, nine start-ups emerged to compete for the prize money.

Placements slugged it out with eight others which included Footwear Academy, service platform for training people in footwear making; Legitcar, an online platform which makes stolen vehicles difficult to resell, and easy to recover; Wemove, a startup building technology solutions, to ease transportation in Nigeria, starting with vehicle hire; and Accounteer, a smart cloud accounting platform for SMEs.

Others were SmartTeller, a mobile and web application designed to innovate and automate field operations for microfinance institutions; myPadi, a marketplace for college students and young professionals to access both on-campus and off-campus local houses and shared rooms in every city across Nigeria; and Gerocare, a platform that provides regular medical doctor visits to the elderly in the comfort of their home as a subscription service. Top exhibitors included Union Bank, Nokia, Farmcrowdy, Flexisaf, Cloud Cover, Teamapt, Thank U and iROKO.

Others were Ventures Platform, Paystack, MyMusic, Whogohost, Formplus, Accounteer, BudgIT, Leadspace.

The post Boosting youth entrepreneurship appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

A group of traders in Lagos has called on the government to provide them an enabling environment to operate. They are not just problem solvers, but also job creators and drivers of growth.

Mrs. Joy Oriowo said the tough business condition was affecting them. She said traders and small business owners were unhappy with the insecurity in the markets and shops, adding that some of the youth involved in the crimes were unemployed.

She said those who break into shops and steal peoples’ products should not to be blamed because things are hard. “There are no jobs for graduates,” she said.

Speaking on her challenges, Mrs. Oriowo, a retailer of clothes, attributed this to the high price of clothes and fabrics, no thanks to the high foreign exchange rate, adding that this was making it difficult for her to sell her wares.

Also, Mrs. Abimbola Shotayo, a trader in one of the markets in Lagos, said her major challenge was multiple levies.

She lamented: “We pay many levies and this is affecting our profits.”

Mrs Shotayo explained that apart from paying rent she also pays charges to some associations, such that at the end of the month, she would not be able to make enough profit.

Mrs Shotayo, a food stuff seller, urged the Lagos State government to scrap some of these levies to enable small businesses survive.

She suggested that the government should build shops at a very affordable rate for small businesses.

The post Traders seek better deal from govt  appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Retail entrepreneur Abayomi Awobokun has turned his passion into a career with the launch of a fuel delivery startup, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

AN entrepreneur, Abayomi Awobokun, knows how to take advantage of opportunities. For him, technology-enabled productivity growth could help reduce the burden while improving the quality of services as well as boosting long-term growth prospects.

Driven by  this  understanding, he decided to pursue his dream by setting up Enyo Retail and Supply Limited, a customer-focused, technology-driven fuel retailing firm,  after working in a retail business for more 10 years.

Addressing a breakfast meeting for tech entrepreneurs and key industry experts at Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) in Yaba, Lagos, Awobokun said retailing petroleum products required a huge capital outlay for infrastructure and procuring products. Critical success factors will include cutting costs and running an efficient operation.

Having seen the rate of fuel margins being squeezed yearly and the value of fuel losses increasing, he said his organisation in collaboration with E360 Africa Limited, is promoting a solution to reduce fuel losses, lower operational costs and deliver savings, thereby helping to improve profit margin for fuel retailers.

Poised to challenge some of the key tenets of the fuel retailing industry, he said ENYO Retail was founded on the premise that the customer is the most important factor in service delivery.

He said: “We specialise in the implementation of end-to-end secure business technology solutions readily accessible to both operators and business executives. Our business dashboard provides an array of services, including continuous insights into operations, revenue, cost, stock and expense monitoring.”

To achieve this, the company collates data on market trends, environmental changes, political and social implications, competitor activities and consumer preference and present to clients.

According to him, the business is designed to optimise business operations and profit margins, ensuring effective management of fuel business.

He said: “Technology combines oil sensing, forecourt analytics and pump integrity management to ensure accurate volumes are dispended to customers, improves supply chain planning and provides real time inventory management. It allows for integration to banks to boost financial planning and management.”

He said the technology represents the future of fuel retailing, helping fuel stations to manage the retail business more effectively by giving visibility and control.

Already, he said stations involved in retail fuel business have the solution to assure them of high returns on investment (RoI) while not being left behind in this challenging sector.

He said the downstream segment of the oil sector holds promise of increased opportunities for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The Chief Executive, CC Hub, Bosun Tijani, said the technology will continue to be one of the biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors.

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Some entrepreneurs are making it big in make-up artistry, Bello Adefemi, reports.

There are many make-up artists, but very few of them possess the entrepreneurial skills to take their talent to the next level. Miss Uzoma Obi has a business to show that she’s one of the select fewHer passion has led her to master of make-up artistry, and she is set to make a difference in the industry.

Miss Uzoma knows her onions in the beauty business. So far, the experience is rewarding. She has learned so much about make-up artistry and products, and how to behave on zset and interact with people.

To achieve this, she has given everything to it. With experience, she knows how to pick the right make-up for red carpet looks, understand the lighting in different venues, and knows how to work well with celebrities. She has really worked hard on building trust.

Over time, she found that the business needs a patient, creative, calm, reliable, thick-skin to criticism, warm-hearted, eager to please, confident, flexible, jovial, ability to style-step and passionate person.

Speaking  with The Nation, she said  make-up entrepreneur will make it if the person loves  the business and is passionate about it.

She said: “Whatever you do, do it well and work hard at it, and with hard work will come success.

“What makes make-up business lucrative is something that attracts people. When I do make up for my clients, I improve my myself and this speaks for me and people keep patronising me.

“One thing is, once you are good, consistent and you offer quality services to your clients, you will get to where you desire in the business.”

She is on her way to propelling a successful modern beauty business.

Another case is that of Be Gorg Chief Executive, Miss Tope Olawale, who explained that clients would rather negotiate ridiculously, but jump at any amount given to them by the bigger brands.

She added: “Sometimes I am busy and some other time I’m so free that I begin to question myself, if my work is good at all.”

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The United States Embassy in collaboration with Andela, a global training organisation, has gathered designers, developers and other experts in Lagos, Benin, Ibadan and Abuja for training in fishery, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Techpreneurs are successful because they bridge the gap between businesses and consumers with innovative solutions. One way to get these solutions is through hackathon, a forum where people come together and use technology to transform ideas into reality.

Fishackathon is a public-private partnership, which uses digital solutions to address fishery challenges.

The United States government in collaboration with Andela, a global trainer, assembled designers, developers, and experts to provide tech solutions to fisheries’ problems.

The event was held in Lagos, Abuja, Benin, Lagos and Ibadan.

Fishackathon organiser, West Africa Andela, Anuoluwapo Onifade, said the event was organised by the US Embassy to inspire the creation of digital solutions to address sustainable fisheries and marine challenges.

According to him, the challenges involved providing solutions to problems in areas, such as overfishing, pollution, and other hazards threatening the extinction of marine species.

He said mentors help teams bring their ideas into execution that will solve problems.

The winning team, he explained, would receive $5000 and top teams would move on to the regional and global finals.

HackerNest is the Managing Partner for Fishackathon, a global hackathon series, launched in 2014 by the U.S. Department of State that advises the president and leads the country in foreign policy issues.

The post US, firm empower techpreneurs in fisheries appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

The Anambra Government has started the assessment of the skill acquisition centres in the 21 local government areas across the state to equip them properly.

Special Adviser to Gov. Willie Obiano on Youth Empowerment and Mobilisation, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, made this known in Awka.

Ibezim said the assessment was to get firsthand information about the facilities.

The governor’s aide said the exercise was aimed at empowering youths to be self-reliant.

He said the Obiano-led administration was committed to improving the living standards of the citizenry, especially youths, who  show are keen about their development.

Ibezim urged the youth to acquire skills to boost their income.

The special adviser enjoined them to shun vices.

He tasked residents of the state to protect the government’s facilities in their various areas against vandals.

The post Anambra govt assesses skill centres appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF of The Guardian Mr Debo Adesina has called for the appointment of a minister of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to drive exports.

He made the call at the 10th Founders Day lecture of the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) in Lagos where he was the guest speaker.

Adesina, who spoke on Achieving economic growth and development through export-oriented SMEs, said such a minister should be charged with driving all government’s SMEs policies to achieve results. He said at the moment there is no minister in the Muhammadu Buhari administration who pushes SMEs’causes and that this was affecting SMEs’ growth.

Adesina, a governorship aspirant in Oyo State, said the world over SMEs are the engine of growth and are given priority, urging the government to take them as such. He noted that entrepreneurship is the way to go in an economy buffeted by unemployment.

He asked the government to build the middle class with relevant skills. He called for ‘high growth businesses’ to boost export goods and services. He praised the past military administration for the formation of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), adding that business owners should embrace its programmes, and those of research institutes and governmental bilateral agreements with some countries. He lamented that the institutes had been shut down for months by their workers agitating for better welfare.

Besides, Adesina urged business owners to add value to primary goods before exporting them. He cited cocoa from which about various products could be got after processing.

He regretted that since 2015, the non-oil export sector had been declining with oil still dominating. He advised to make prudence, integrity their watchwords. To the government, he said: innovate and support SMEs.

Earlier, former federal permanent secretary, Chief Philip Asiodu, who chaired the event, sought continuity in governance. He said a situation where a government abandons the programmes of its predecessor should stop.

The Izoma of Asaba also sought respect for the rules of good governance, long-term plans and a programme of education, discipline, hard work, among others.

Nigeria, he said, has the resources to be great, if the right policies were put in place and executed. It was wrong, he said, for successive governments to have jettisoned the 1975-80 Development Plan, noting that it was a good document for growth. “If you depart from plans, money will come and go and you will not know what to do with it,’’ he added.

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