Seplat Energy Plc is set to commit another N16. 5 million seed fund for youth entrepreneurship programme in the country.
Seplat Energy JV supports Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme, aims at developing participants’ leadership skills, social entrepreneurship, and business management abilities, through customized and targeted capacity building workshops.
In addition, the beneficiaries’ ability to action their ideas is supported through equipment funding and mentoring.
The company while holding a special event to celebrate the past beneficiaries (Fellows) of the programme, which began in 2019; also used the occasion to reaffirm the company’s commitment with another N16.5 million funding in seed money to the Programmes partners, Conversation for Change (C4C).
In her opening remarks, the Director of External Affairs & Sustainability, Seplat Energy, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku, noted that through the Seplat JV/C4C partnership, the company has successfully trained and supported three batches of fellows, comprising about 55 young entrepreneurs, who are thriving, creating value and boosting Nigeria’s economy. “Each beneficiary has shown resilience, creativity and innovation through the duration of the yearly programme and has now become our proof that we could truly make Nigeria better by investing in the youth population,” she said. A Lecture themed: ‘Unleashing Nigeria’s untapped Potential through Entrepreneurship and Sustainability’ was delivered to the Fellows to commemorate the auspicious occasion. Making presentation during the programme by a former Independent Non-Executive Director of Seplat Energy Plc, and Scholar at Said Business School, University of Oxford, Ms. Arunma Oteh, said the programme was to build more capacity and further equip the entrepreneurs.
Also present at the event was Bello Rabiu, an Independent Non-Executive Director and member of the Sustainability Committee of the Seplat Energy Board, who restated the company’s continuous commitment to encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship in Nigeria. He noted that youth entrepreneurs are major change catalysts in any economy and all hands must be on deck in the quest to empower them and, therefore, reduce unemployment in Nigeria.