First Bank, JA Africa Reaffirm Commitment to Entrepreneurship Devt in Africa

Ugo Aliogo

First Bank Limited and Junior Achievement (J A) Africa have partnered to restate their commitment towards entrepreneurship development in Nigeria and Africa at large.
The two companies have acknowledged the role entrepreneurship development play in nation building and economic development.

Speaking at the 12th Company of the Year (COY) competition, Africa’s largest high school entrepreneurship competition tagged “Fuelling changemakers” the Head of Media and External Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, First Bank, Mr. Ismail Omamegbe, said the programme serves as a platform which equips senior secondary school level students with the entrepreneurial skillset and mindset to solve problems in their communities by launching a business venture and unleashing their entrepreneurial spirit.

According to him, First Bank is sponsoring the competition as part of its contribution to nation building, stressing that nation building is at the heart of its strategy as a business for the past 128 years.
He added that the youths are also a critical aspect of its business strategy, maintaining that under the bank’s future first initiative, entrepreneurship development is one of the central aspect of its three key elements under the initiative.

Also speaking, the Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, FirstBank, Folake Ani-Mumuney, said the 2022 Junior Achievement Company of The Year competition remains another viable opportunity to promote the entrepreneurship skills, spirit and talent innate in school children, across Africa.

According to her, “We commend Junior Achievement Africa on the COY initiative as it serves as an avenue to expose participants to inter-cultural values and traditions that will foster the unity of the continent.

“We wish all participants, particularly the Nigerian representatives – Green Apex from the International School, University of Lagos – the best as learnings from every initiative could solve critical problems facing mankind as we collectively make the world a better place,” she said.

On her part, the Chief Executive Officer, JA Africa, Simi Nwogugu, said the programmer has been running for the past 40 years in Africa and 23 years in Nigeria, saying that J A Africa would continue to support the young entrepreneurs when they are ready to join the workforce.

She said JA Africa is open to all schools on the continent partnering with Ministries of Education in different countries to get easy access to public schools in Africa.

According to her, “Given the increasingly complex set of global challenges facing young people around the world from unemployment to climate change and food shortage, we focus on equipping our students to be solution providers who bring about positive change within their communities while developing businesses that generate wealth said.
“Our students have demonstrated great resilience and innovation in grappling with these challenges and I am extremely proud of all of them. I am also deeply grateful to all our sponsors who stayed with us throughout the pandemic period and contributed greatly towards making this a live event again.

“The young entrepreneurs who compete at JA Africa’s COY go through qualifying competitions at national and sub-national levels, competing against thousands of youth startups to qualify for the regional competition. This programme transitions them into employment and transforms them into employers.

“Having emerged as national winners, they will represent their countries on the continental stage where they have the arduous task to impress a panel of international business professionals who serve as judges. FirstBank’s sponsored winners of the 2022 Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) National Company of the Year (NCOY) Competition – Green Apex from the International School, University of Lagos – will represent Nigeria in the JA Africa Company of the Year (COY) Competition.”