The Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Finance is selecting young entrepreneurs for the YouWiN! Connect Enterprise Education to help selected candidates develop their businesses and plans.
YouWiN! Connect is a multimedia based relaunch of the YouWiN! programme of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It aims to support young entrepreneurs as they PLAN, START and GROW their businesses, by providing Enterprise Education as well as access to technical and consulting services. The programme aims to promote entrepreneurship, job creation and wealth via enterprise education for young Nigerians.
Specific objectives include:
Yearly capacity building of 55,500 budding young entrepreneurs. Nurture ideas and innovation from young entrepreneurial participants from Universities, Polytechnics, Technical colleges, and other post-Secondary institutions in Nigeria. Increase firm growth by 20% and employment by participating MSMEs in Nigeria. Target growth in the Agriculture/Agro-processing, Construction, ICT, Fashion, Manufacturing and Retail sectors. Encourage expansion, specialization and spin-offs of existing businesses in Nigeria. Enable young entrepreneurs to access a wide business professional network and improve their visibility.
Eligibility:
- Applicants must have post-secondary school qualification.
- Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 40.
- Applicants must be Nigerians and resident in Nigeria.
- Applicants businesses must be domiciled in Nigeria.
- Applicants must be able to communicate effectively – speaking and writing – in English.
- Applicants must be willing to attend all trainings and mentoring exercises organized by the programme.
- Applicants must not be an employee of the Nigerian Civil Service.
Selection:
Aspiring entrepreneurs will be invited to apply/register for participation via the online registration portal. Applications will be reviewed and 55,500 successful applicants will be shortlisted for the online training.
Number of Awards:
Not specified
Benefit of Award:
- Online Training (Accelerator Phase I): 55,500 successful participants will receive tailored generic online training in various aspects of entrepreneurship and business such as modules in business planning (access to finance, access to markets, competitiveness, business strategy, and mind- set change). At the end of this stage, 5,000 successful candidates will qualify for tailored Masterclass face to face training.
- Masterclass Training (Accelerator Phase II): 5,000 successful participants will receive tailored (industry specific) Masterclass face to face training which is categorised based on cluster and held in various cluster hubs across the country. The sectors of focus for the masterclass phase are:
- Information & Communication Technology (ICT)
- Agriculture/Agro-Processing
- Fashion
- Manufacturing & Retail
- Construction
- All participants will receive certification on completion of the training and will be required to submit a business plans for areas where their businesses requires improvement.
- All successfully funded businesses (start-up/existing) will receive a 1 year business development support (this includes introducing businesses to DFIs for further funding)
How to Apply:
Apply HERE.
Application Deadline:
Ongoing