Nigerian Breweries Plc, has instituted a new empowerment scheme, tagged “Partnership for Growth”, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, geared towards equipping Nigerian youths, especially those in its host communities with vocational and life skills that create wealth and support livelihood.
About 100 youths, made up of 50 males and 50 females from Awo-Omamma Community, in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State, who were selected by the community, are to benefit from the maiden edition of the programme, which kicked off in August.
The beneficiaries will be trained in different vocational skills, ranging from confectionery, cosmetology: make-up, manicure and pedicure, braiding, solar panel installation, cell phone repairs, landscaping, tiling, barbing and fashion designing.
They would also be taught basic bookkeeping, business management, customer service, and life/soft skills.
The scheme will create trust and strengthen the partnership between the company and the community where it operates, says Sade Morgan, corporate affairs director, NB plc.
According to her, NB plc is embarking on the youth-based community intervention programme, to address critical needs of stakeholders in the community.
“NB Plc, through the programme aims to enhance the potential of the youths and entrench sustainable platforms to provide young people in the community with access to vocational skills and a network of peers and mentors,
“From our engagements with the community, we identified the youth, as a resourceful group with potential for empowerment, to enable them achieve their full potential and support livelihood in the community.
She continued, “Nigeria’s population has increased exponentially in recent years, putting overwhelming pressure on the limited and already overstretched economic opportunities. With about 70 percent youth population, the economic outlook of the country can be improved by providing young people with entrepreneurial opportunities to acquire knowledge, vocational and life skills that create wealth and support livelihood.
“In the absence of this, economic protest, community restiveness and crime could escalate,” she observed.
She added that NB Plc would certify beneficiaries and support them with seed investment in tools of trade for the acquired skills.
The theme of the programme is “Partnership for Growth: Invest, Involve, Inspire”.
Nigerian Breweries is a long-time sponsor of youth empowerment programmes, under its “Youth Empowerment and Talent Development” focus area, which provides a platform for young people to display their talents, while being encouraged and rewarded.
One of the Youth Empowerment and Talent Development Programmes sponsored by NB Plc was Creative Writer’s Workshop, which was organised in partnership with Farafina Trust and the National Arts Competition, organized by the African Artists Foundation, in collaboration with Nigerian Breweries.
Another was the National Reading Competition, designed for SSS1-3 students in secondary schools across the country, to empower Nigerian youth and channel their energies to more productive ventures.
GODFREY OFURUM, Aba
