Making History With Other 69 Nigerians on February 1st

Alongside 69 other entrepreneurs, history was made on Thursday, 1st of February, 2018 in Ogun state by being pioneer Nigerians as we graduated with new skills and information to help strengthen and expand our businesses and also create job opportunities into the Nigerian economy. This was made possible through the six month intensive SME Business Training and Coaching Loop organised by the Pro-poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria Program (SEDIN) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); German International Corporation, whose objective is to increase employment and income generation in micro, small and medium sized enterprises.

As a federally owned enterprise, GIZ support the German government in achieving it's objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. The target groups are the owners and employees of MSMEs as well as members of other economically active low-income households.

The SME loop consists of seven phases which includes;

1. Assessment and selection
2. First Training (3 days)
3. Coaching phase 1 (2 coaching sessions per month for 2 months).
4. Second Training (3 days)
5. Coaching Phase 2 (3 coaching sessions per month for 3 months)
6. Graduation Ceremony (1 day)
7. Coaching Phase 3 (4 vouchers for 4 additional coaching sessions).
   
   GIZ went into the rural areas to assess, select, train and give support to entrepreneurs and start ups, to help make them stronger and better equipped towards building and sustaining an economically viable business enterprise for the ultimate purpose of growing and developing the economy.

The need to build our economy can't be overemphasized, especially given the fact that we have taken so long to build our economy. We are just doing it now and there is the need for aggressiveness when in a catch up state.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 50% of young people in Nigeria are either without job or not gainfully employed. If we do not grow our economy, Nigeria do not have a glamorous future and the need for this task must begin with empowering small and medium entrepreneurs through building capacity for business development and sustainability and job creation. To this end, GIZ has set the pace by building a foundation upon which a solid structure should be placed.

We may not fully understand the need for this until we begin to appreciate the fact that 60% of small entrepreneurs build the economy in most great nations. However, in Nigeria so much attention is given to those who are great when adequate attention ought to be given to the small entrepreneurs because these are the category of entrepreneurs who can help grow the economy.

Dear steemians, it is a rare privilege being one of the pioneer graduands of the SME Business Training and Coaching Loop; a course which would be rolled out continuously in many other states in Nigeria within the coming months, aimed at helping to build and sustain a viable economy for the nation through empowering micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.

Thank you all for visiting my blog to share the joyous moment with me.