The Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) in collaboration with stakeholders in the entrepreneurship landscape, is set to empower over 1,000 youths with skills to run successful businesses at the 2022 MSME Youth Empowerment Conference.
The event scheduled on Thursday, July 21, 2022, at the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) auditorium in Abuja is in response to the challenges facing young entrepreneurs in terms of financial constraints and a lack of technical assistance.
In his speech during a press conference recently, Abdulrashid Yerima, president and chairman of council of NASME, said the conference would provide a platform for dialogue between the young entrepreneurs, policymakers and development partners.
“The first MSME Youth Empowerment Conference is aimed at providing an interactive forum for dialogue between young entrepreneurs and policymakers as well as development organisations too discuss the need to invest in access to finance, technical assistance in young people’s transition, work and education,” said Yerima who was represented by Tajudeen Ajisefini, vice president of North Central.
He highlighted the conference’s objectives, which include creating a conducive platform for young entrepreneurs to showcase their entrepreneurial abilities, stimulating an efficient synergy that could uplift the growth and development of young entrepreneurs in Nigeria, drawing attention to the challenges and prospects of young MSMEs in Nigeria, and assisting in the development of the latent entrepreneurial capacities of youths in Nigeria as a means of entrepreneurship development.
He said that Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Tunde Dare, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, and Abdulrashid Yerima, president of NASME would give the keynote addresses.
“Panel discussions will focus on building the financial gap for Youth-Focused MSMEs and stimulating Entrepreneurship Culture amongst Nigerian Youth,” he added.
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Likewise, the MSME clinic and NASME National Youth Enterprise Challenge (NYEC) are among the activities lined up for NASME 2022 MSME Youth Empowerment Conference.
“NYEC was created to address the challenges that young entrepreneurs face by providing cash grants and technical assistance,” according to Olanrewaju Oniyitan, CEO, W-Holisitic business solutions and member, NASME, Lagos Office.
She urged interested young entrepreneurs across the country to visit the application website on https://bit.ly/NNYEC from now till July 15, 2022 when the application closes to apply.
“The best ten applicants will be shortlisted for the finals where three eventual winners will emerge after a pitch competition and given cash prizes, technical support and other assistance,” Oniyitan said.
“An MSME clinic with key regulatory agencies in attendance to support MSMEs with a view to removing impending bottlenecks will also run side by side with pitching Competition.”
Over 1,000 participants and exhibitors across the country are expected to attend the event as important and burning issues will be discussed and dissected by various industry experts during the panel discussion.
