The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said it looks towards empowering not less than 10, 000 Entrepreneur’s through internship in its new launched programme.
Charles Odii, the Agency Director General of SMEDAN, revealed this at the official launch of the programme held at Baze University in Abuja.
Mr. Odii explained that the agency has secured the commitment of several prestigious firms to provide opportunities for students seeking practical knowledge and experience through the programme and unveiled Miss Farida Akuyam, a Business Management student at the university, as a pioneer participant of the programme.
He said the initiative code-named the “SMEDAN Undergraduate Internship Programme” was designed to provide hands-on entrepreneurial experience to students through quality internships at renowned organisations.
His words:
“We want to spot and nurture the builders of Nigeria’s next unicorns, and this programme is a major step towards achieving that goal. It is a significant demonstration of the agency’s commitment to advancing the MSME sub-sector by making the right investments in talent and innovation. Selected students will receive specialized training, experiential learning, networking opportunities, and mentorship.”
Pertinent to note is the fact that, Nigeria in the recent time is turning towards entrepreneurship as a veritable route in addressing many of her several economic challenges.
In too long a time, Professor Sunday Adebisi, the director, Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre (ESDC) of the University of Lagos, pinpointed the fact that for Nigeria to surmount the challenge of unemployment among several national developmental issues, President Bola Tinubu must re-focus his “Renewed Hope” agenda to stimulate and drive innovation which will in turn, engender the creation of a New Enterprise Nigeria where the prospect of the nation’s teeming youthful population is guaranteed.
He revealed this while delivering the 1st Special Annual Lecture of Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr) Professorial Chair in Entrepreneurship Studies, Titled “Revolutionizing the Nigerian Economy to Create Jobs and Sustainable Wealth: the Sole Ladder, the Sole Option, the Sole Platform” the public lecture which held at the J.F. Ade Ajayi (Main) Auditorium of UNILAG, Lagos.
Professor Adebisi who is the First Occupier Professor of the Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr) Professorial Chair challenged the Federal Government to commit to promoting and building a knowledge-based economy which thrives on the pillar of innovation.
He further queried the methodologies of the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which puts the national unemployment rate at 4.1% as against the 2020 report which stood at 33%.
He also faulted the 92.6% informal employment statistics and the 75.4% allocated to those in farming and other little business in the same NBS data, record which he described as outrageous and capable of distracting the government from paying the desired attention to job creation.
Prof Adebisi also raised concerns over the rate and ravaging impact of job loss, brain-drain and the generational gap between those he called Gen-Baby Boomers (i.e. 1946- 1964), Gen-X (i.e. 1965-1979), Gen-Y (1981-1996) and Gen-Z (i.e. 1997-2021).
The highly innovative don decried the continued rise in the country’s inflation rate, the sustained assault on the nation’s currency and upward trend in the number of youths exiting the country for greener pastures abroad, a development, he said, is fueled by failed promises, dashed hopes, poor change management system, irresponsible leadership, dysfunctional policies, outright disregard for citizens’ feelings and government’s inability to live up to its billings to the people.
In suggesting possible ways out of the quagmire, the Professor of Entrepreneurship, Hub and Strategic Management in the Department of Business Administration of UNILAG advocated the need for individual states in Nigeria to harness their innate strength with a view to creating an Enterprise Innovation Hub that will propel wealth-creation job opportunities, wipe out unemployment, create decent jobs within the value chains and eradicate poverty.
Whilst soliciting a paradigm shift in the thinking and approach of the federal, state and local governments to job creation, with a view to promoting a new economic sphere where citizens can productively explore entrepreneurial capabilities in taking advantage of innovation opportunities that create wealth and enhances their standard of living.
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