How LSETF created 168,000 jobs in 6yrs

Over the past six years, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) has created over 168,000 direct and indirect jobs in Lagos by empowering operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.

Data shown at the LSETF Media Parley recently held to foster partnerships with the media and create awareness of the impact of the organisation in Lagos shows that the state is at the forefront of creating jobs for youths.

Speaking at the event, Teju Abisoye, executive secretary of LSETF, said some of the measures in place to create jobs were access to affordable financing, employability programs, technology, market stimulation, and collaboration with the private sector.

“In Nigeria alone, there is a huge gap of about N27 billion in terms of financing accesses for MSMEs, out of which Lagos has 20 percent. That is why we have created and are still creating structures to support them so that they can increase their productivity, thereby employing more people,” Abisoye said.

The lawyer further said that the organisation is promoting innovation and technology which has helped them grow jobs exponentially.

“The average number of jobs that were created when we started using technology is about 42, compared to the traditional ones that would create lesser numbers.”

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Several reports have shown that entrepreneurs are important to market economies because they can act as the wheels of the economic growth of the country.

According to LSETF, SMEs were the most variable methods to create employment as they are the innovative engines of economic growth, contributing about 50 percent to the GDP of the nation.

“Lagos state houses most of the MSMEs in Nigeria. Across the world, we are known as the engine of growth and employment creation since the state contributes about 50 percent of the GDP,” Abisoye said.

Last year, the NBS reported that the impact of the pandemic on the labor market had made the job of a trader or business person to be the most common dream job of Nigerian youths (aged 15-25 years old) as against high-profile white-collar ones.

LSETF was established in 2016 by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law 2016 to tackle unemployment and promote entrepreneurship in Lagos by empowering its residents with job and wealth creation opportunities.

The organisation has different offices in the 26 local government areas of the state. So far, it has given N8.4 billion in loans to about 12,710 beneficiaries as of April 2022.