The Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) in partnership with Heritage Bank and its development partners is set to launch a N500 million special seed fund (YESGrant) for young Nigerians.
The Seed fund which is scheduled to be launched on Tuesday 22nd March 2016, is part of the NYPF efforts to grow more indigenous entrepreneurs, encourage the culture of self-reliance and deepen the Nigeria economy.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Director of Communications Miss. Owomilere Obe, saying that the scheme was borne out of the need to address the enormous challenges young people go through in their quest towards achieving set goals in their small scale businesses and in their academic pursuits. She noted that the grant will enable young entrepreneurial postulants with creative ideas in Agriculture, ICT and creative industry start or expand their business concepts and provide over 500 Nigerian students schooling locally or abroad with tuition to pursue their academic dreams and aspiration in the areas of research and technological/scientific innovation.
“The main objective of the NYPF (YESGrant) Programme is to deepen the Nigerian economy by deliberately encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurs in Nigeria to develop and execute business ideas that will lead to massive job creation and also paying tuition for indigent students so that they can be relevant to the society by having relevant skills that employer’s needs. Jobs are a foundation of economic and social development, improving living standards, productivity and social cohesion. Jobs are responsible for moving people out of poverty”. She said.
Owomilere, therefore encouraged all young person to apply through the grants application system that will be available online and provide all supporting documentation on or before June 2016 to be eligible for the first year disbursement to award recipients in August 2016.
To qualify for YESGrant, prospective recipients must be between the ages of 18- 40, be registered members of the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF), and be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) using their registered companies and have an account with Heritage Bank prior to disbursement of fund.
Student’s award recipients must in addition provide their matriculation number and academic progression report.
The Nigerian Young Professionals Forum, a non-governmental organisation has been in the forefront lead of building the next generation of business frontiers through intervention programmes for young Nigerians.
In 2015, over 1000 carefully selected entrepreneurs made up of young business owners residing in Nigeria and in the Diaspora met at the International Conference Centre in Abuja for the debut of the Young Nigerians CEO’s Conference and Exhibition 2015 organized by the NYPF.
The conference with the theme: ‘Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Building Economic Leaders for Tomorrow’, afforded young entrepreneurs in Nigeria the opportunity to exchange ideas with their peers from other parts of the world and also served as a platform for the young business owners to discuss challenges they encounter in their operations and its impact on the Nigerian economy.
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