Study has shown that a lot of challenges are being faced by the Nigerian youths which subsequently have led to being indulged in various criminal activities, drug abuse, prostitution and violence of one kind or the other.

This fact is corroborated by Juan Somavia, Director — General, International Labour Organization that only through decent employment opportunities can young people get chance to work themselves out of poverty. Every country must therefore focus more on youth development.

In view of the aforementioned, CEED Foundation believes that supporting talented young people in building their capacity in their fields of endeavour, mobilising financial support and helping them engage successfully in developing their brands and small business activities can place them on the path of success and provide sustainable income for their families, employment for their communities and economic growth for the country.

With a focus on encouraging these young people to be proud ambassadors of themselves and the positive ideals they stand for, CEED foundation in partnership with SunCity Africa Magazine has decided to organise a FREE Skills Development Academy to kick off this very mission. The programme will be activated in all the major cities of the 36 states of Nigeria, our target is designed towards rescuing 30,000 young people out of the streets and empowering them through entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer and business grants.

The urgent need to equipping youths with relevant life skills and technological knowhow can never be over emphasis and would definitely set them on a track of being self-reliant, because employment opportunities are far below the growth rate in the youth population in Africa due to lack of commensurate investments and appropriate technologies.

Although the Nigerian government is making efforts in ensuring the social welfare of these youths but this has not in any way reflected on our diminishing economy. This project will at least take 100 young people out of the street in every state of Nigeria as a pilot program.

HOW THIS PROJECT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM

These young people would be taught on the best production practices on their predominant skill/line of business, counseled in the line of business and be provided with grant facilities to kick-start their business, not as an individual but as a group which will be duly registered under the Corporate laws of Nigeria. CEED Foundation will also provide post training support to these beneficiaries to evaluate and monitor the progress of the new business startup.

The purpose of skill acquisition programme as a means of economic empowerment is to prepare and equip individuals with appropriate skills that can be beneficial in transforming them into wealth and job creators, the creation of wealth and employment will lead to poverty reduction and increase the welfare status of individuals.

This training is targeted at vulnerable people, especially the youths. The youths in Africa constitute the highest population bracket in age segmentation. This significant fact also implies that the future of our continent depends largely on this population. Although captains of industry and technocrats complain of dearth of quality manpower to propel the needed growth in the various sectors of the economy because the much-flaunted growth in our system has not in any way supported the education sector, which ought to serve as an incubator for the accelerated development of our youths and the real service sector of the economy. We believe that for us to make maximum progress, education has to go beyond our institutions’ four walls; what is required is intensive personal development through knowledge transfer, skill development, networking, and mentorship.

Young Nigerians in both Small scale and Micro Business are on the rise creating job opportunities for others despite the many challenges of poor infrastructure and economic policies. According to a recent documentary by BBC, Nigeria has the highest number of young female entrepreneurs in the world.
The social media platforms are providing means for both successful and upcoming entrepreneurs to promote and advertise their goods and services at a cheaper price. These young entrepreneurs are now the rising stars of Nigerias economy, and job creators.

OBJECTIVE OF THIS TRAINING

The objective of the training programme is to ensure that trainees learn practical and business management skills on how to start and nurture businesses. The following are therefore the specific objectives of the programme:
* Expose trainees to the various entrepreneurial opportunities that are viable and self-sustaining;
A empowering beneficiaries in simple business planning methods which they would use to start up a business;
B. link trainees to mentors that can provide further learning and support services after the training, and
C prepare the beneficiaries for export readiness by training on best global practices for production, branding and packaging.

LONG TERM IMPACT OF THIS PROJECT

This project will educate at least 100 young people in each state of the federation, who in turn will educate others within the community. Also products produced from the clusters will be seeking international recognition with other brands via the exportation of these products to countries with a high demand of these goods. This project in the long run will help to better the livelihood of these youths, their families and the country at large.

SCOPE OF PROJECT

The project will cover the following scope as follows:
1. TRAINING ACTIVITY/SKILL ACQUISITION
2. BUSINESS ADVISORY: business counselors will be attached to trainees, to ensure learning has taken place during the business management class. Counselors will also assist participants in planning the business.

3. DISTIBUTION OF START UP KITS/GRANT
4. MENTORSHIP
5. MONITORING & EVALUATION

TRAINING METHODOLOGY

The training methodologies that will be employed during the training programme include:
Use of power point presentation
Videos and Simulations
Practical Demonstrations
Group Discussions and Brainstorming Sessions
Icebreakers and Energizers
Use of other facilitation tools

BENEFITS

The Post Training Benefits include:
Access to Business Advisory Services
Exposure to Finance and Investment Opportunities
Mentoring sessions with Experts and BDSPs

PROGRAMME

DATE: N/A
DURATION: 10 Saturdays
VENUE: A Selected Cities in 36 states + FCT
TIME: 9am- 3pm