Determined to roll out responsible entrepreneurs and promote business sustainability, Lagos Business School (LBS) has partnered with Semicolon Africa and Henley Business School to execute its Nexus Project, funded by the British Council.
According to LBS, the project is aimed at unlocking the potential of African youths and transforming job seekers into sustainable job creators.
The project will also help to bridge the unemployment gap and reduce the failure rate of startups.
It will train and support a total of 30 African techpreneurs representing 15 projects/business ventures with great entrepreneurial ideas, which will be transformed into investable and sustainable ventures.
The beneficiaries selected for the training will undergo a 6-month (April to August 2022) management programme, which will deliver specialist knowledge transfer, education, coaching, and mentoring to propel their venture ideas to investment readiness and connect them to a nexus of investors.
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Speaking at the formal launch of the project, Adun Okupe, project director and LBS Faculty, said the project provides the opportunity to address the emerging need for entrepreneurship development in Africa as well as a chance to improve the success rate of startups in Africa.
Jean-Pierre Choulet, vice-dean Africa, Henley Business School, said there is a need to provide the required platform for African youths to jumpstart their entrepreneurial journey.
Choulet said the opportunity will provide youths with adequate support to scale their businesses.
“Through this partnership, we believe that the beneficiaries will have requisite coaching, and mentoring supports as well as access to relevant information to enable them make informed decisions while connecting them to a pool of investors who can propel their ideas to the next level,” Choulet said.
Sam Immanuel, CEO of Semicolon Africa, said his company was pleased to collaborate with the Lagos Business School (LBS) and Henley Business School on the project, which sets to increase the success stories of African youths who are boisterous, creative, and desirous of building sustainable businesses.
To actualise the target, five MBA Alumni of Lagos Business School have been on-boarded onto the coaching and mentorship programme to provide technical skills support to the participants.
The mentors include Oluwafemi Adeniba, CEO of Sustmark Consult; Azukaego Chukwuelue, founder of Truss Empowerment Foundation; Deji Agboade, CEO of BPI Advisory; Femi Awofala, founder of Brickstone Africa, and Ada Okorie, CEO of Julie Harrison Pharmacy Limited.
