LSETF created 320,000 jobs, trains more than 30,000 youths in 10 years

……set to host lagos Employment Summit 4.0 in Q4 2026

The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) has created 320,000 direct and indirect jobs across Lagos state, and trained more than 30,000 youths for employment opportunities, while 173,000 jobs that were on the brink of losses were successfully saved in the past ten years.

Reflecting on the Fund’s impact to mark a decade of existence, Feyisayo Alayande, executive secretary of the Fund, also noted that the institution’s mission was around a single, foundational principle which is access.

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“The difference between a Lagos resident who builds something and one who cannot, is rarely talent; it is almost always access,” Alayande noted. “Access to capital, knowledge, markets, networks. LSETF exists to close that gap.

According to her, more than N15 billion has been disbursed across to over 20,000 loans to MSMEs, with over 82,000 small businesses supported with structured capacity building. Over 1,200 tech startups have been supported and 3,300 tech talents developed through the Lagos Innovates initiative.

“And through it all, our loan repayment rate stands at 94.53 percent because Lagos entrepreneurs are not a risk, but an opportunity and they have proven it constantly, she said.

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Rewriting the story of employment in Lagos

To address the persistent challenge of youth unemployment, the fund’s strategy relies heavily on moving away from isolated interventions toward market-aligned skills development and structured corporate collaborations.

By partnering with international development agencies and private sector companies such as GIZ, UNDP, King’s Trust International, Lafarge, and Diageo, the Fund aims to establish direct pathways from vocational training into formal industries.

​Alayande cited the example of a woman living with a disability who, after completing an LSETF-Lafarge training initiative in phone repair, established her own independent business.

Also, other vocational trainees from  joint initiatives have secured employment within established organizations such as LG and the Lagos Intercontinental Hotel.

​Within the technology sector, the Lagos Innovates initiative seeks to connect local technical talent with broader international markets. As an example of this framework, Alayande highlighted a participant from the Fund’s First Female Founder and Funders Programme who, through LSETF’s networking and support structures, subsequently presented her project at the GITEX technology exhibition.

​Despite these recorded milestones, LSETF’s leadership acknowledges that significant communication gaps continue to limit the institutional reach of its programmes.

 

Highlighting, the state’s vast population, structural awareness remains uneven. For instance, many eligible small-business owners in Alimosho remain unaware of available credit facilities, youth in Ikorodu miss out on free vocational training cohorts, and tech startups in  Yaba hub are frequently unfamiliar with the resources offered by Lagos Innovates.

Regardless, Alayande announced that the Fund will be hosting more training cohorts as well the upcoming Lagos Employment Summit 4.0 in Q4 2026. The summit will bring together government, private sector, development partners, and civil society to set the agenda for employment and enterprise development in Lagos for the next decade.