The long awaited AYEEN2016 empowerment program has finally arrived!

The program kicked-off with collation and screening in some regions in Nigeria; there is still opportunity for people in the south west and south east region of Nigeria to participate as registration closes tomorrow Friday 12th August for Enugu and Lagos centres. Screening and collation will then follow in Enugu on the 13th of August and in Lagos on the 15th of August.

The business auditions with the international Judges will then kick start after the collation and screening of all the 6 geo political regions all across the country

Unemployed graduate seeks for job using a huge placard with his photo

Young African graduates seeking for jobs have come up with an interesting new way to catch attention of potential employers.

Recently, photos of unemployed Nigerian and South African graduates holding placards flooded the internet. A Kenyan graduate by the name Patrick Muthomi has taken it up a notch with his huge placard.

YOUTHPRENEUR BUSINESS SUMMIT 2016

The annual YOUTHPRENEUR BUSINESS SUMMIT brings together innovative and ambitious youths to inspire and challenge one another in entrepreneurial approaches to Nigerian economy.

The project focuses on learning, sharing of ideas and mentoring for young entrepreneurs between 18 and 35 years.

The project, which aims to enhance enterprise development in Nigeria, will run for ten years. We hope to impact 20,000 businesses through mentoring, partnerships, capacity development and funding. Women-owned businesses would get 55 per cent of the funding.

Youth-owned businesses can access funding through annual YOUTHPRENEUR BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION.

Awardees are carefully selected based on innovations, value-addition, marketability of product & services and sustainability.

Application is received based on announcements. 

visit here to register

Call for Applications: Startup Open 2016 for New Entrepreneurs Without Seed Funding

Brief description: Startup Open 2016, powered by Global Entrepreneurship Network is calling for entrepreneurs from any industry with a new business that has yet to raise any outside capital from angel investors, venture capital firms or other formal sources of seed funding.

Application Deadline: 30th September, 2016

Offered annually? Not known

Eligible Countries: Global

To be taken at (country): South Africa

About the Award: Startup Open is a global competition that is open to entrepreneurs from any industry with a new business that has yet to raise any outside capital from angel investors, venture capital firms or other formal sources of seed funding.

Type: Entrepreneurship contest

Why Nigeria’s economy will decline in 2016 – IMF

Nigeria’s economy will not appreciate to an impressive level in 2016.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nigeria’s economy is likely to shrink as it was performing below the IMF forecast for the country.

Gene Leon, IMF resident representative in Nigeria on Monday, said energy shortages and delayed budget weigh on output in the country.

With deflation of the economy by 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2016,

Youth Entrepreneurship Summit 2016

·         The Youth Entrepreneurship Summit and Expo Nigeria 2016 was created to place focus on the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise, which are cardinal to our national aspiration towards self-sufficiency and overcoming the challenges of job creation in the agro-allied, wholesale/retail, construction and technology sector of our economy. MSMEs are critical innovation drivers, wealth and job creators, with the potential to grow into multinational corporation in the future. Nigeria youth are also some of the most enterprising in the world, making up the 9^th largest workforce in the world, and also have some of the largest networks in the Diaspora which can be used to leapfrog change and development on the continent.

Wisdom Tales From Made Entrepreneurs, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika (CEO) Sokoa Nigeria Ltd

Everything I needed was in the system. The carpenters came with their tools. So I didn’t even need to buy tools. All I needed was to have a place to operate from. I noticed that furniture making company need basically three divisions -carpentry, upholstery and spraying. So I engaged three carpenters, two upholsterers and two sprayers. We were seven. So where do we start from? The chief carpenter said there was an uncompleted building close to his house. The man lives in Ejigbo. I had never gone to Ejigbo but I had to go because what I needed was there. The next thing was where do we get jobs from? When people heard that one of our first customers was Prime Merchant Bank, it sounded so big and great. But I had handled the transaction in my former place of work. I went there to see if there was any extra job that they could offer me. I treated them well. But how do you give a bank’s major furniture work to a 25 year-old girl who had nothing?