Norrenberger has launched a N500 million Entrepreneurship Fund for youth corps members across Nigeria.
The launch of the Fund which took place Thursday in Abuja is part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility meant to empower young Nigerians.
The Fund is targeted at about 5,000 youth corps members that will go through a stringent process before they can access the fund.
Fielding questions from journalists after the launch, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Norrenberger, Mr. Tony Edeh said the Fund is targeting 1 million youths in 5 years and in the process creating 10 million jobs.
He also said that apart from creating capital, beneficiaries would be imparted with the right skills that would enable them successfully manage their businesses.
He said: “It’s not just about funding. I think there needs to be some level of knowledge and skill acquisition for these young entrepreneurs. If you look at the failure of entrepreneurs across Nigeria every year, 6 out of 10 entrepreneurs fail and 40 per cent fail because of lack of capital, another 40 per cent fail because of lack of knowledge and skill to put forward their ideal.
“So, what we are doing is that apart from creating capital, we are creating an enabling environment that would allow these individuals to gain the kind of skills that they need to run their business, and at the end of the day we crown it all with capital, with the fund that they need to power their ideas.
“And we are saying that while we have limits to what we are going to give to individuals, it’s not just limited to those benchmarks. Where the ideas are so compelling, we have partners that would come on board and ensure that idea comes to life.”
On his part, the Chairman, board of directors of Norrenberger, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu Bala said beneficiaries would be able to access up to N5 million.
“From the document that we have I think the first prize is about N5.5 million, the second one is N3.5 million, then over N2 million, if I am not mistaken,” he said.
He added that, “we believe that when you see the young people come out, full of ideas and not everybody can get a job. So, we thought of the little we can do. We have seen so many of them evolve with the little sums that we have given them to open barbing salons, because it’s difficult when you come out with a lot of passion and knowledge and then you do not have anything to do.”
He said that the company with its partners would develop a mechanism to monitor and evaluate beneficiaries of the fund.
