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?

THE ILLUSION OF BIG PAY: NIGERIAN OIL & GAS WORKERS AIN’T EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK

The life we’re made to live, the perception friends and even foes have of us is an illusion, the more you look, the less you see. Those were the words of Rachael Kada as I asked about her job and monthly earnings in one of Nigeria’s foremost multinational Oil and Gas companies.

Irrespective of being a mid-management staff of a renowned multinational Oil and Gas company, Rachael is a restless entrepreneur with 3 flourishing small businesses and intent to invest in more. For what we know or perceive of the average Nigerian oil worker, they are comfortable enough to avoid the headaches of the entrepreneurial life. Depending on the company, average industry salaries starts at $45,000 to $140,000 per annum, this is enough to make them an envy in a country like Nigeria.

How Agricultural investment saves a ph.d holder

I started my farm in 2013 when I went to the Netherlands for my master’s degree with some money I was able to make working while studying. At first it was not easy I must admit. I started my farm with about 1000 birds. I had more mortality I won’t lie but my dad who also has farm was able to put me through and I learned very fast too.

Today I can boost of over 7,000 birds (Layers, Broilers, Turkeys and some day old chicks as well). I’m also currently constructing a fish pond and starting a tomatoes and onions plantation too. I get a minimum of 300 crates in a day. more pic

Ultimate List: 40+ Awards & Business Plan Competitions for African Entrepreneurs

From students, startups, young and social entrepreneurs to small & medium and successful businesses, African and global organizations open business plan competitions and awards annually to support and encourage budding and successful entrepreneurs in Africa.

Whether you need funding to bring your bright idea to limelight or have made innovative progress as an entrepreneur in Africa and need a platform to demonstrate your achievements, there are opportunities out there.

Below is AfterSchoolAfrica list of 40 plus business plan competitions and awards for African entrepreneurs. Most of these programs are offered annually. Look out for the next application.

11 Prominent Politicians That Have Been Detained In Kuje Prison Under President Buhari

Hahahahahaha this story is an epic explanation of how it felt back then in secondary school when everyone wanted to be a bad boy and just be at the wrong side of the law, after all what would happen ? the highest is kneel-down there and go back to your class-room or better still pay your bail and continue

1. Umaru Fintiri - A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the remand of a former Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri, in Kuje prison, Abuja, over five counts of money laundering charges involving about N1.9bn preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

It is a disgrace that states cannot pay salaries – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says the inability of 27 state governments to pay monthly salaries of their workers is disgraceful to Nigeria.

President Buhari stated this in Abuja on Wednesday while addressing staff of the Presidential Villa.

He expressed dismay that in spite of the initial bailout funds given to some states, workers in those states were yet to receive their salaries.

“The matter that may shock you is that 27 out of the 36 states couldn’t pay salaries.

“This is a disgrace to Nigeria; it’s a disgrace. Up till now some of the states cannot pay salaries.

“What happened to all that we have been getting all this time?

PHOTOS: Mira Metha, Harvard Graduate Who Is A Tomato Farmer In Nigeria

I hope as many that are reading this especially those of us still in the tertiary level begin to understand that there is more to life than a white collar job, because this story inspired me on different levels.
Meet Mira Mehta; A young American lady & Havard graduate who is a tomato farmer in Nigeria.

She is a Havard Business school graduate who is passionate about entrepreneurship and has decided to pitch

Over 300,000 candidates apply for 750 EFCC work positions

Over 300,000 candidates applied for the 750 job positions advertised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Director of Public Affairs of EFC, Mr Osita Nwaja, made the announcement in Enugu yesterday. Nwaja said that the recruitment was segmented and that the first phase of the recruitment exercise ended on June 26.

He said:

FG Cancels All Conducted Post-UTME, Orders Refunds To Candidates

The Federal Government of Nigeria has annulled all Post-UTME screening exercises that have been conducted by schools for 2016/2017 admission and has ordered fees paid by candidates to be refunded.

The FG had earlier announced the scrapping of the Post-UTME exercise starting from 2016/17 admission. However, a number of schools have changed the name to several ones as “admission screening”, “Admissions Intelligence Quotient Screening” and the likes.

It has been claimed that the reason and purposes of creating the Post-UTME have been defeated.

Recruitment: Police Websites Crash As 8,000 Applicants Register

I came across this sometime ago and i could not stop laffing cause it reminded me the struggle while we attempted to get bed space earlier this year........
Attempts by many candidates to apply for enlistment into the Nigeria Police Force were frustrated on Friday as the two police portals for the recruitment crashed and were inaccessible for most part of the day.

The Police Service Commission had directed interested candidates to apply through its website,www.psc.gov.ngor that of the Nigeria Police Force, www.npf.gov.ng, but the two websites crashed due to huge traffic.

It was gathered that many candidates could not apply online at different cyber cafés and had to go back home in frustration.

Attempts by our correspondents to access the websites between 2pm and 6pm were abortive as the PSC website simply said, “This Account has been suspended. Contact your hosting provider for more information.”

The police website

Mark Zuckerberg: 'Entrepreneurship Is About Creating Change, Not Just Creating Companies

Amidst international upheaval in the wake of the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union, President Barack Obama spent the day at Stanford University praising the entrepreneurial community at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit alongside Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"The world needs your creativity and your energy and your vision," he said in his opening remarks. "You're going to be what helps this process of global integration work in a way that works for everyone and not just some. I believe we are better off in a world where we are trading and networking and communicating and sharing ideas. That also means that cultures are colliding and sometimes that's disruptive and people get worried. You're the bridge. You're the glue."

Back to my Diary

Its been two month since i last dropped a post on here and it feel like forever already. I wouldn't say this year first semester has been my favorite with the whole strike, tussle for power between the school management and student body which obviously looked like a fixed match between Kano pillars vs Bayern Munich Fc, second semester begins in a couple of weeks and i am very hopeful it is going to be a lot better than the first. One too many events and projects to look out for *fingers crossed* *mouth sealed* am quietly going to keep enjoying the final week(s) of the break..

FUTA Student Wins Tony Elemelu’s $10,000 Grant

Michael Olorunfemi John, a 500 level student in the Department of Transport Management Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) has been awarded a $10,000 seed capital grant by the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Foundation Programme (TEEP) for emerging entrepreneurs. Michael emerged one of the 1,000 African entrepreneurs selected from the 45,000 who presented applications for start-up grants.

The Former Team Leader of

Budding entrepreneur in Lagos? You can get Equity-free loans at 1% interest rate

Late last year, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State presented an Employment Trust Fund bill to the State House of Assembly for ratification and consideration. This bill was aimed at transforming employment creation in the state with ₦25bn proposed to be spent over four years as a support scheme for young entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Early this year, the bill was signed into law by governor Akinwunmi Ambode in Ikeja, Lagos. At the signing ceremony, the governor said the Employment Trust Fund was in line with the promise made to the people during the electioneering campaign.

How To Apply For The Young Entrepreneurs And Students Grant

The YESGrant is an initiative of the Nigeria Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) in joint venture with Heritage Bank.

Over 1000 Nigerians will this year be beneficiaries of N500Million Naira Grant seed capital set aside for young Nigerian entrepreneurs and students.

This was disclosed this week during the launch of the YESGrant Scheme by the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) in partnership with Heritage Bank, which took place at the Four Point Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.

Here is how to apply for the YESGrant:

Get an accountant and/or sales business development officer for free

Jobberman’s recent collaboration with the world Bank in Partnership with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment’s Growth and Employment Initiative to provide GRANTS for small and medium scale businesses.


 As a result, these SMEs will have the opportunity to hire an accountant or a sales/business development professional. The pilot exercise focuses on businesses in Lagos only.

Food and beverages sector set to sack 3m workers due to Forex crisis

Leaders of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association, FOBTOB, have alleged that employers of Labor in their sector are planning to sack 3 million workers as most of the companies are finding it hard to get foreign exchange to use in purchasing raw materials for production.

According to Vanguard, President of the association, Quadri Olaleye, spoke at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday March 23rd, where he said that between 2012 and the first half of 2015, over 3,000 workers were sacked in the guise of re-engineering, restructuring, right sizing, downsizing, redundancy and

Dangerous Mistakes we made before we Graduated From School! by Lawrenzi

I just want to finish with this school, go outside and get a good job settle down and move on with my life.” Was what a friend said some days back while we had a chat at the “buka”. abeg nor ask me wetin i go find for there! in this world where there are scarcity of employment opportunities, I find it absolutely repugnant and repulsive for one to think in this manner. Thinking is free sha, but em.. you have to be realistic if you really want to be a difference!

This is worth reading!!

The modern world is bad. It is inhumane, unfair and unjust. This is the world of money. It is not for people. It is for those who who produce this money, for bankers and financiers, government and millionaires. And people are mere "pawns" in this game. They just serve them as attendants.

Why do bankers work less and earn a hundred times more?

What lies behind the social welfare? Labor. But why do bankers live a hundred times better than common people who really work hard? Do the bankers work harder? Definitely they don't! In addition they do not even produce any material values, as opposed to the workers. Why then the difference in income is so enormous?

Many wonder with all sincerity now, reading this: "Well... a banker and a worker, they cannot be compared! The banker-the head of the Bank, he has power over money, and is well-connected. And we are ordinary people, having no power or clout. Naturally, the banker lives better than we do.

Meanwhile, there is nothing "natural" here. The point is that everyone got used to

Photo of the week

lmao this picture has a thousand and one explanations yet still so hilarious.

Source Contact 

Story -Effect of Made In Nigeria to Nigeria

Mr David Ahmed Okoro started the day early, having set his alarm clock (made in Finland) for 6am. While his teapot (made in China) was perking, he shaved his beards with his clipper (made in Hong Kong). He put on his shirt (made in the UK), and designer jeans (made in Italy ) and a matching shoe (made in USA ).

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric cooker (made in India) he sat down with his calculator (made in Mexico ) to see how much he could spend today. Afterwards he sets his wrist watch (made in Taiwan ), puts off his radio (made in Vietnam ) and headed straight to his car (made in Germany) filled with petrol (imported from Saudi Arabia) and continued his search for a good paying Nigerian job…

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day while checking his computer (made in Malaysia), Mr David Ahmed Okoro decided to go

Story - The Meat Hunter and The Meat Seller...

Ebele Ogbuanu the Hunter goes in the bush, kills a very big Antelope and sells it to

Mama Ngozi who sells pepper soup. He sold the game for N1,000, he told mama

Ngozi to make sure the pepper soup is well made because he is coming along with his friends in the evening to enjoy themselves. When they got there that evening, they ordered for plates of pepper soup. Ebele bought the head for N500, he bought the four legs for his four friend at N500 each, another person ate the intestine as assorted, he paid N500 for it, three other people also ate N500 worth of pepper soup each. The hunter ended up spending N4,500 to buy what he sold to Mama Ngozi for N1,000. Mama Ngozi made a cool N3,500 profit just by cooking (processing) the meat and selling it back to where she bought it from. That is 350% profit and yet she still had excess remaining to sell to other customers. So who is wise and who is foolish here?

Let us relate this story to our dear

Open Counsel To CBN - FOLA DANIEL ADELESI

10 Feb 2016 This Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) & its leadership is ruining the cashless policy campaign they initiated. You want a cashless economy but you

   1.     Put extreme daily withdrawal limit on account and that affects businesses so some prefer not to take the money to the banks

   2.    Make us pay for ATM cards that are free in some countries.

   3.    Charge N100 card maintenance fee for card that is in the customer’s hand.

   4.    Charge COT on all transactions.

   5.    Charge N50 naira stamp duty on all transactions now. No one understands the essence of this. You get a mail from your bank and implementation takes effect immediately! Who does that, except in Nigeria? And, there are no consequences!

   6.    Charge N65 naira when you use other banks’ ATM 3 times. This charge was reversed by former CBN governor,  Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who is now

Social Innovators Forum Presented To You By S.M.I.L.E

Hello dear readers, if you would like to make a difference by addressing various gaps, issues affecting our society or you desire to improve your capacity to start, manage and grow your social enterprise, well then S.M.I.L.E's social innovators forum is the program for you!

Topics to be covered includes;

• Understanding Grants and Fund Raising for NGO(s)
• Positioning for corporate sponsorship, support and understanding current trends in Nigeria 
• Effectively Promoting and Marketing your social Enterprise through Social Medial Tools.
• Connecting and Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals for Strategic Corporate Positioning and Effectiveness  
• Branding your Social Enterprise and so much more.

FOR REGISTRATION CONTACT : 

07087364005

smileinitiative@ymail.com

www.facebook.com/SMILEng

www.twitter.com/SMILEontwitter

This is just perfect for me so

MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge

Hello readers, did you miss the Enterprise Challenge 2016 ? because if you did that is really bad, well that's by the way MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge is here again powered by JUMIA. Now before you think any further take a good look at the seed capital $25k all things being equal that money should be 4.9million naira but with our current state economically that's a whooping 10 million naira.

A lot of people just get discouraged when they hear entrepreneurship reasons best know to them but i have one question for you if you are reading this

''If i had 10 million naira what business would i venture into ?''

Once you can answer that you are 20% closer to winning, remember you don't have to figure it out alone, call your friends and team up its a challenge and not a competition. Sorry its coming in not too early and Goodluck guys we'll be needing it. Click here for more details.

Enterprise Challenge 2016

Hello dear readers, this is for everyone not necessarily for entrepreneurs only at the moment so if there's anything on your mind you'll like to share i think or rather i feel this is one of the best platform to share it on, don't get scared by the way its absolutely free and yes i've dropped mine no time !!! Click here for more details ...

NOTE ; He who learns but stops thinking is lost and he who thinks but stops learning is also in great danger

Have a great weekend ahead my esteemed readers!!!

Eight Considerations on creating a Startup

The internet makes it possible for virtually anyone to develope a startup regardless of where they are around the globe. However, there are some important factors each entrepreneur, or developer, should consider before choosing a city to launch their business. Here are some tips gathered by successful entrepreneurs on the most important things to figure out.

1. Who do you know?

It is extremely vital to think about who you might know in that place that can help connect you with the relevant people in that city.

Kaduna Governor trains 5000 unemployed youth on entrepreneurial revolution in Kaduna

Kaduna state Governor Nasir Ahdmad Elrufai has Kick started Industrial Entrepreneurial Revolution with the commencement of the initial training of 5000 successful applicants taken from the 23 local governments.

The pragramme tagged  KAD- STEP is in collaboration with  Bank of Industry, (BOI) and Kaduna Business School which are providing the start up Loan and faculty respectively for the young entrepreneurs. According to them, the entreprenours  would be trained on how to actualize their business proposals into reality.

The state Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai represented by Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mohammed Abdullahi Sani said the program is part of the efforts of the state government to make the state

50 Best Websites For Entrepreneurs

Ok this has got to be one of the most important article i've read this year, not just because of my love for entrepreneurship but because its hard to stay online without viewing the same old negative news trending (back to back cruelty) in the world but because these sites have some interesting information that keeps me busy whenever im online.....

There are many websites out there that can help entrepreneurs grow a bigger, better business--but there are many more time-suck websites. How can you tell the difference? By depending on a cheat sheet for the best websites for entrepreneurs.

Here, a cheat sheet of 50 to get you started:

Read What The Central Bank Of Nigeria Has To Say To Nigerians

Yesterday, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria warned Nigerians to brace for a longer period of low revenue from oil sources, which would necessitate hard and 

uncomfortable choices. .

The committee, in a communiqué, observed that while the period of low oil prices, which occurred in 2005, lasted for a maximum of 8 months, the current situation is expected to continue over a longer period of time. Crude oil prices had declined from a peak of $114 barrel in July 2014 to $30.25 per barrel yesterday.

A look into 2016 budget

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday December 22 presented the 2016 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.

According to the Budget Office, headed by Aliyu Yahaya Gusau, the Appropriation Bill 2016, seeks to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N6,077,680,000,000.

Of the figure, N351,370,000,000 is for Statutory Transfers, N1,475,320,000,000 is for Debt Service, N2,648,600,000,000 is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure.

The sum of N1,845,540,000,000 inclusive of N157,150,000,000 Capital Expenditure in Statutory Transfers and N86,000,000,000 as Interest on Capitalised Loans, is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2016.

Below is the breakdown of the proposed budget currently with the federal legislature for deliberation and approval.

WARNING: Before you embark on viewing this new governments budget for the year 2016, i'll like to state a few things RED means danger & BLUE means hope to the highlighted areas, how you choose to relate to them is a function of where you belong to in the society.. the writer is a student!