NGO trains 51 budding entrepreneurs in various skills

No fewer than 51 budding entrepreneurs in Enugu State have been trained on entrepreneurship skills by Lift Saxum, a non-governmental organisation.

Presenting certificates to the trainees after the four-month training on Sunday, the Executive Director of the organisation,Mrs Nwanneka Okolo, noted that enterprise was the best and effective way to check unemployment and poverty.

Okolo said that the training had afforded the trainees the capacity to face the challenges of starting their businesses and breaking-even.

She noted that the training, which targeted mostly women, was a comprehensive and practical entrepreneurship module that covered critical skills, tools, knowledge, business proposal writing to financial institutions and mentoring.

Okolo said that by 2017, Lift Saxum would have transformed the lives of at least 2,200 youths and women through its spectrum of entrepreneurship services.

She said that by 2023, the organisation would have enhanced the lives of at least 20,000 women and youths, thereby creating at least 100,000 new jobs in the South East.

"In addition, the organisation will serve as a catalyst in the South East, transforming the lives of youths and women in the region, and invariably reducing unemployment and ensuring peace, stability and prosperity across Nigeria.

"Non-profit organisations and trade associations offering enterprise development services in Nigeria are predictably concentrated in the commercial capital of Lagos, followed by other major urban centres such as Abuja and Port Harcourt.

"There appears to be a gap in enterprise development organisations in the South East which Lift Saxum exists to fill this gap,’’ she said.

The executive director noted that the organisation also undertook community entrepreneurship training outreaches where it offered business solutions to youths and women living in rural communities.

"This consist of trainings, workshops and exercises designed to develop these individuals as a group and help them form co-operative societies for easy access to funds and to have common direction and focus,’’ she said.

In a goodwill message the Assistant Director of Development Finance at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Ibeawuchi Amagwu, lauded Lift Saxum for preparing Nigerians on steps to be successful entrepreneurs.

"With these entrepreneurs as well as enlightened co-operative societies, it becomes easy for these economic facilitators to easily apply and receive CBN funds set aside for small and medium enterprise,’’ Amagwu noted.

A trainee, Mr Festus Eluke, said the training had empowered him with business ideas and skills.

"The fascinating thing is that I can identify business opportunities when I see them without being told,’’ Eluke said.