GOMBE/(News Investigators)/ The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has trained over 30 young entrepreneurs on the techniques of establishing businesses and development of same in Gombe State at its “Talent Hunt in Fashion, Arts and Craft”.
The four-day training which commenced Monday, 15th took place at the Abmar Hall in Capital city of Gombe in collaboration with National Council For Arts and Culture (NCAC) and the Gombe State Government has participants from all the six (6) states of the Northeastern region of the country.
The talent hunt themed: “Breaking Convention, Sparking Innovation” is aimed at reducing the unemployment rate in the in the North East and country at large using SMEDAN’s Young Business Entrepreneurs in Nigeria (YBON) initiative.
In a welcome address by the Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Diko Umar Radda who was represented by Alhaji Isa Mohammed, the Zonal Manager, North East Zone of SMEDAN, noted that the program was “designed towards discovering hidden talents and showcasing innovative talents in Fashion, Arts and Craft.
“This is geared towards employment generation through wealth creation and self-reliance, there by reducing poverty among youths”.
Susan Gabriel a facilitor who presented a paper on “Basic Marketing & Sales Techniques” explained that the programme is aimed at guiding young Nigerian entrepreneurs on how to build their businesses and expand them.
According to Susan, “SMEDAN realized that a lot of youths are unemployed; some even unemployable because they don’t have skills to be employed. There are many unemployed youths who are endowred with different talents in fashion, arts and Craft and yet to be employed”
“So, the Agency is organised such a program to develop entrepreneurship. We know entrepreneurship is the answer to unemployment in Nigeria. So that is why we gathered youths between 20 and 35 years old and trained them on entrepreneurship in order to make them young business owners in Nigeria.
“The top three participants would go home to start up with cash prizes of N500, 000, N300, 000, 200, 000 respectively. And other 7 leading participants would go home with N50, 000 each.
“The purpose and aim of the training is to coach the young ones in developing and managing small and medium businesses in the country, that is why we exposed them to business plans, business research and business set-up etc,” she said.
The Gombe State Manager of SMEDAN, Mr Uboboso Abilo, urged particpants to visit there state office for more knowledge on the opportunities provided by SMEDAN.
He further advised the participants to utilize the knowledge they have acquired and spread the gospel of SMEDAN so that others who have talents should register to have same knowledge.
