The Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme is an ambitious programme by the Bank of Industry (BOI) aimed at addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria which is currently over 50%. According to a 2013 survey by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), most of the capacity building programmes aimed at addressing youth unemployment, have concentrated more on training without any tie-in to the provision of small business loans, which is a critical success factor to the establishment of small businesses. In addition, they hardly take care of the entire training value chain in terms of Entrepreneurship, Business Management and Technical Skills.
The YES Programme
BOI’s approach to tackling the youth capacity building challenge is to focus on young aspiring entrepreneurs within the age bracket of 18 – 35 years that have viable business ideas by developing a Product Program – Youth Enterprise Support Programme (YES Programme), for empowering them. This crop of Nigerians forms a significant proportion of unemployed youth in the country.
Eligibility
- The applicant must be a Nigerian.
- Must have a viable business idea within the 40 identified clusters that is operated, or will operate in Nigeria.
- Must be within the age limits of 18 and 35. (proof of identity: International passport/Drivers License/National ID/Voters card required).
- Must possess a minimum educational qualification of Ordinary National Diploma (OND).
- Applicant must be able to carry out the application process online
Component of the Yes Programme
- Eight (8) weeks intensive online Entrepreneurship and Business Management training which has the ability to test participants’ understanding and track their progress.
- Five (5) days in-class Entrepreneurship and Business Management training
- Technical skills training in partnership with the various technical training and vocational institutes in the country.
- Financing the businesses by BOI under its SME Cluster initiative in consonance with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Commodity-based Industrialisation Strategy.
Deadline: Ongoing
To apply and for more information visit here
