In the face of the growing unemployment rate in the country especially among the youth demographic, Nigerian undergraduates have been enjoined to embrace entrepreneurship as a viable career option.
The lead consultant for the world bank sponsored (Youth enterprise with innovation in Nigeria) YouWIN Connect, Dr. Kamsi Oby Onyeuche,made the call at a one day capacity building workshop for the 2022 Batch C Corp members.
The program is a multi media based program of the Federal Government of Nigeria implemented by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. The objective of the training is to inspire, motivate and spur an entrepreneurial mindset within the youths. Trainings are carried out in NYSC Permanent Orientation Camps and tertiary instustutions all over the country.
Dr. Kamsi who tasked the Corp members to take advantage of the many opportunities government has put in place to help entrepreneurs, urged them to start small within the boundaries of their available resources.
While delivering a keynote lecture on the topic ‘What a would-be Entrepreneur should know before venturing into business’, Dr. Kamsi stated that a good vision is a vital guideline for achieving goals in business.
According to her, “to be successful in business, you need to solve a problem for somebody, to help them cope with something they are struggling with.
“The way to properly identify a business opportunity is to look for an unmet need. Are there enough people in that area or sector facing the same challenges to form a market for you? Can you profer a cost-effective/affordable solution to that challenge they have? Can you provide these solutions efficiently and effectively? If you can answer all the questions above, then you have a good business opportunity.
“Knowledge is the next thing you need. You need to know how to provide this solution. You also need a very solid business plan. Everybody thinks their idea is great until it is subjected to rigorous analysis. Somebody else needs to vet your ideas, probe/test it and say, ‘Yes, this is good’.
“We also trained graduate interns in the same World Bank sponsored Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) on career development and employability skills. We’ve been doing the YouWIN trainings since 2016 till date. Every year we train at least 10,000 youths”, Dr. Kamsi stated.
The head of lecture Abia state NYSC camp,Mrs Gift Candid while thanking the team said the Enterprise Education for the youths is really needed at such a time as this.