The Norrenberger Financial Group has announced a N500 million empowerment support grant for five thousand young entrepreneurs of the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps. The company, led by 2014 Tutu Fellow Tony Edeh, has said that they intend to continue supporting the grant in years ahead.
Tony announced that 2.5% of the company’s profit after tax is set aside for the entrepreneurship programme, which he said is part of its corporate social responsibility programmes.
The announcement was made at the Norrenberger Entrepreneurship Fund Symposium - NEF - in October 2023. The symposium had the theme 'Investing in Nigerian youth to drive entrepreneurship opportunities and challenges'. Tony said that his company has the goal of impacting five thousand youth corps members this year and has partners who will help them reach that goal. In five years, he anticipates having impacted one million Nigerian youths and created about 10 million jobs.
Tony said the selection process would be stringent. To qualify, one had to first be a NYSC member, submit an application, have an entrepreneural idea, and that successful candidates would not only be supported with capital but also with knowledge and skills to help them succeed in making their ideas come to life.
Growing up in suburban Nigeria, he wondered what the basis was for the inequality which surrounded him and stereoptypes of the African continent, socially and economically. As an adult who lived abroad, he came to a profound personal conviction regarding the concepts of equity, inequality, capitalism, and imperialism.
A report in Leadership says six out of 10 entrepreneurs fail in Nigeria. Forty per cent fail because of lack of capital. Another 40% fail because of the lack of knowledge and the skills to push their ideas forward.
Apply or learn more at the Norrenberger website.
Caption: from left to right at the official announcement of the NEF: Chioma Ome Country Director, Solar Sister; Olawale Anifowose, Director of Programs, Enterprise Development Centre; Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu Bala, Chairman Board of Directors, Norrenberger; Vanessa Phala, Director International Labour Organisation (ILO); Tony Edeh GMD/CEO, Norrenberger; Alu Oryiman, Principal Enterprise Officer, SMEDAN; Tijani Oladipupo, Head, Business Advisory, Norrenberger.
Report