In the true sense of Public Private Partnership (PPP), government in the three tiers must provide necessary support to private sector initiatives targeted at tackling the worsening unemployment situation in the country and its multiplier effects.
Giving this advice recently in Lagos was the Managing Director of MeritChoice Limited, Mr. Gbeminiyi Oluwabusola, who lamented the poor state of infrastructure in the country and “ the absence of incentives to boost entrepreneurship”.
Specifically, the MeritChoice boss, whose company held an empowerment summit in Lagos recently, lamented the poor power supply and state of the nation’s roads and land acquisition challenges, stressing that these deserve urgent attention.
According to Oluwabusola, whose company is into Internet services, Agriculture, Cooperative Association and Import/Export businesses: “Even for us that are empowering people to become entrepreneurs, business is scary. You need to know what it costs to run an internet radio where a lot of money is spent on fuel because there is no regular electricity supply. So, power is key.
And for our agriculture business, the roads are so bad even in the cities, not to talk of in the remote areas. Presently, we are buying hectares of lands in millions for plantations of various crops under our agriculture project, but it is hard to get technical or even financial support from government.
Though, government claims that there are loans for young entrepreneurs, but, it is not readily available. It is not easy for people to access. There is no adequate education or awareness about what government is doing to encourage entrepreneurship, except for few laudable support from organizations , like the World Bank sponsored FADAMA project, which assists farmers to commence some level of rice production and its value chain”. Certainly, if we are able to enjoy required support from the government, that would enable us to empower more people and take many more people out of poverty and unemployment”.
During the programme, tagged “MeritChoice ProfitReloaded Summit, participants were enlightened on how to become self employed through mini-importation, export, online business and agriculture among others.
In his presentation, Mr. Patrick Ogidi, who spoke on Mini importation business said that paucity of funds is not a barrier to starting a business if there is determination and goodwill. “If you have a business idea, and you are determined, your goodwill will fetch the money; so, be known as a trustworthy person, be known as a good person,that is goodwill”.
Ogidi advised participants to be sure that the products to be imported for sale are in sufficient demand, adding that they should explore the marketing opportunity provided by reputable Online sites where they can display their products.
Also speaking on Car Importation, Greatness Ileogben, Chief Executive Officer of Great World International, buttressed Ogidi’s assertion when he stressed that lack of the initial capital is not a limitation when starting car importation, but that the trader must have built trust, goodwill and integrity to be able to attract financial assistance to start off the business. Both speakers took participants through how to go through the whole import business profitably.
In their comments after the summit, participants described it as worthwhile. To an Accountant with Queue Edge Limited, Lagos-Abiola Nurayn-“The summit was an eye opener, which expanded my scope and made me to appreciate entrepreneurship”.
As for Tokunbo Ajayi, who simply described himself as a Business Executive, the platform afforded an opportunity to be exposed to a lot of businesses like agriculture, transportation and real estate. “It is a useful platform for both old and young to achieve their potentials” Ajayi added.
Also commenting, Ibukun Okunade, who restricted her introduction to just being an Account Officer, stated: “This kind of programme makes you to understand that you can actually buy and sell and import items On-line. It enlightens one on how to go into agriculture, which Nigeria is currently emphasising. Within two or three years from now, one will be receiving income from agriculture” she said with assurance.
The MeritChoice boss stressed that the platform was created to ensure that “Our trainees take action towards their entrepreneurial ambition through MeritChoice Entrepreneurs’Network (MENET).
The summit also took participants through how to join our Cooperative society so as to enjoy business support and opportunities, like farming at the MeritChoice Agric Villa’ Farmland”. He also disclosed: “On November 27th, we shall be having the ground breaking ceremony of our farm estate, which we named MeritChoice Agric Villa in Ogun State. We hope to run an integrated farm system which will be patterned after the Songhai farm idea which we got when we had a tour of the Benin Republic- based farm last month”.