The Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWiN!) program of the Federal Government of Nigeria is jointly implemented by the Federal Ministries of Finance, Youth Development, Communication Technology and Women Affairs and Social Development; with support from the World Bank, UK Department for International Development and the Organized Private Sector. The aim of YouWiN! is to create jobs by encouraging Nigerian youth to employ others through innovation and enterprise. YouWiN! is implemented as an annual Business Plan Competition that culminates in the selection of 1,200 award winners in each cycle. The program is now in it’s third annual cycle(YouWiN!3)
The first edition of YouWiN! has reached advanced stages of implementation with all active awardees having received their final tranche grant disbursements whilst their businesses grow in leaps and bounds with numerous success stories and testimonials across the country along with creation of jobs for Nigerian youth.
The second edition of YouWiN! targets women entrepreneurs and is tagged “YouWiN! Women” Awardees under this phase of the program are already implementing their business plans after attending two different stages of boot camps which provided additional training on effective business plan implementation and management. These training boot camps afforded the awardees opportunities to acquire a deep knowledge of their milestones, expectations and program cycle.
Post Award Management
YouWiN! Women awardees are currently undergoing the mentoring program as part of their Post Award management process with a total of 958 awardees paired with 411 voluntary mentors. The Mentoring cycle began in August 2013 with on-boarding programs in different parts of the country serving as a guide for voluntary mentors to achieve quality delivery of service. Mentors are to subsequently provide relevant support to awardees in areas that are pertinent to business survival.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Growbridge(UK) are collaborating with YouWiN! to objectively monitor YouWiN!2 awardees and the implementation of their various business plans.
Grant disbursement
Disbursement of funds for YouWiN! Women Awardees has begun in earnest with majority of awardees receiving the 1st tranche of their total award for development of their new and existing businesses. Subsequent tranches are however dependent on set business performance and job creation milestones.
Tranche 1: As at June 9 2014, Disbursement of Tranche 1 funds have been completed with 3 awardees disqualified from the program while 1 awardee is deceased leaving a total of 1196 active awardees.
Job creation
Awardees under YouWiN!2 are creating new jobs in line with the program objectives with a total of jobs created so far with the businesses growing rapidly. A total of 9,924 jobs have been created by 1,196 active awardees in the six geo-political zones of the country.
Related Posts: FIND A JOB
Be the first to comment