Nigerian Govt. lunches youth enterprice plan to create 50000 jobs

Today, the federal government of Nigeria launched Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (You WiN!) Programme to help young people with innovative ideas to get funding and mentorship. The program is between 3 ministries; Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication Technology (CT), and the Ministry of Youth Development.

It’s a business plan assessment competition; experts are drawn from the private sector and will assess your business idea and vote you up. 

Specific Objectives of the Programme include to:

Attract ideas and innovations from young entrepreneurial aspirants from Universities, Polytechnics, Technical colleges, and other post-Secondary institutions in Nigeria;

Provide a one time Equity grant for 1,200 selected aspiring entrepreneurs to start or expand their business concepts and mitigate start up risks;

Generate 40,000 to 50,000 new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over the three years during which the three cycles will be implemented;

Provide business training for up to 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs spread across all geo-political zones in Nigeria;

Encourage expansion, specialization and spin-offs of existing businesses in Nigeria; and, 

Enable young entrepreneurs to access a wide business professional network and improve their visibility.

There is no cap on the funding you can receive but it will be made available in tandem with your business need as provided in your business plan. 

If you have what it takes to start a business or a good business plan CLICK HERE to apply straight away.

The application opens today and will close on the 4th of November this year.

A Survey of Nigeria's Growing Middle-Class

This is basically a survey of middle-class Nigerians I found on HowWeMadeItInAfrica.com which states that they earn between N900,000 ($5,760) to N1.2M ($7,680) per year. The findings are really fascinating. Check it out;

A recent survey by Renaissance Capital of the booming Nigerian middle-class delivered some interesting results.

Renaissance’s findings are summarised below:

The survey was conducted with 1,004 middle-class Nigerians, with an average monthly income of between N75,000 and N100,000 (US$480 and $645). Participants were drawn from the cities of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. 70% of respondents were aged 40 and younger.

Education and work: 92% of middle-class Nigerians surveyed have a post-secondary education or have studied at higher institutions of learning. 99% have one or more members of their household in full- or part-time work. The majority (76%) work in the public sector, while 22% work in the private sector. About half of the middle-class population are skilled professionals in paid employment, while 38% are entrepreneurs. Only 2% are employed in other forms of work or are part of a NGO.