David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
One hundred and sixty young business owners in Anambra and Kebbi States have benefitted from the federal government’s intervention funds to retain and sustain their businesses.
The Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Dikko Radda who was in Anambra for the disbursement said every state of the country would benefit.
Radda said, “The funds are to ameliorate the difficulties faced by young business owners in retaining and sustaining their workspaces due to the prevailing harsh economic environment.
“80 beneficiaries were selected for the pilot project from each state and each entrepreneur gets N40,000. The exercise is expected to cover all the States of the Federation in the next few years.”
Radda who was represented by the Deputy Director, Policy, Advocacy and Coordination, Ms Chibuzor Osuoha noted that the disbursement exercise was the third phase and conclusion of the Young Business Owners in Nigeria (YBON) development programme in the affected States.
According to the Director-General, the first phase of the programme was a sensitisation exercise while the second phase was entrepreneurship training for the 40 selected participants.
The Director-General reiterated that the programme was part of the solutions designed by the Agency to mitigate business failures recorded by young business owners in Nigeria.
The training, he said, would sharpen the business management skills of the beneficiaries which would, in turn, increase their performance while the payment for workspaces would reduce their financial burden and free some funds for daily operations.
The disbursement of financial support came on the heels of enterprise management training organised by the Agency in December 2017.
