The Economic future of Enugu Youths

Written by Ekene Odigwe

The future, they say, belongs to the youth, hence the saying that young people are the leaders of tomorrow.

With the above quote, how prepared is the future of Enugu state?

Enugu state has a youthful population “Enugu State had a population of 3,267,837 people at the census held in 2006 (estimated at over 3.8 million in 2012, 4.4 million in 2016)”, this is due to factors like high and rising number of tertiary institutions, a relatively active entertainment scene and seeming scenes of a progressive but affordable city.

Bearing in mind the available statistics, one would ask what the forecast is for the economic future of Enugu hopeful. In past administrations, there have been efforts to groom the potential that the state holds economically.

With its conception in 2005, the MSME policies facilitated the need for state SME centres. The intention was to provide a one-stop-shop for resources and aid needed by small business owners all over Nigeria. The initiative was welcome, and the agency was set up in Enugu, known as the Enugu SME Centre.

Since its inception, they seem to have had little to no effect on the young ones till recently.

But the question remains, what is the economic future of the youths in Enugu state?

The present administration has pioneered a new direction for the Agency, its target being the growth of a knowledge-based and technology-friendly economy. Part of this strategy was to push for PPP-powered and a triple helix model of development.

How did they do it?

The governor of Enugu State, Governor Ugwuanyi, appointed a qualified youth for the job. Arinze Chilo-Offiah, an investment banker and entrepreneur. The appointee already had a 3-year stint with the Anambra state government building their business sphere through ASBA (a similar agency like Enugu SME Center) was selected to execute the clandestine duty.

The mandate given to Mr. Chilo-Offiah was to prioritize the economic uplifting of Enugu youths.

How is it going?

As at the time of publishing this article, the agency has improved tremendously. The Agency under its new leadership began with a Facebook-sponsored training of business owners in Enugu state.

UpSkill Her

Next, Enugu SME Centre sponsored the training of 100 young women. The women empowerment program called Upskill Her was delivered by a company resident in Enugu called Inspark Enterprise.

As a follow-up to the training, the agency struck a deal with two big companies (Jobberman and Wildfusion) to have over 1500 young people equipped with employability and digital skills, this training came with automatic job placement for 30% of the trained persons.

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the agency ran a series of online training for 12 weeks. Training platforms included Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

Enugu Wifi Project

Following the mandate, and the present administration’s goal to improve the economic well-being of the youths. Enugu SME Center set up another partnership with Google-backed startup Binary Hills to roll out the Enugu Wifi project.

The intention is to provide affordable internet for young people, also, create a means of livelihood as the internet project needed agents to thrive.

The agency set up a recruitment process to make 1000 agents for the Enugu Wifi project. So far, you can find Enugu Wifi in different locations in Enugu.

With all these knowledge-based schemes, the agency has also pivoted to fulfilling its other roles which include providing funds for small businesses.

Through a counterpart funding program, about four 4 loan programs are running simultaneously for businesses owners and even students in the Enugu SME Center and include:

1. The ₦2 Billion, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise Development Funding (MSMEDF) Program. Enugu State commenced this program in December 2014 during the last year of His Excellency Barr. Sullivan Chime’s administration.

2. The Enugu Trader Facility (ETF) is an innovative financing program in partnership with a FinTech called Carbon (previously PayLater) where the agency provides financing to SME Clusters in the State (markets).

3. Enugu Business Loans (EBL) For Lydia Loan where Business lines of Credit (Credit Loans) are created to solve financing and funding problems for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises within the State.

4. Enugu Studentpreneur Development Loan Program ESDLP is an innovative loan program tailored to provide single-digit funding support to burgeoning entrepreneurs, fostering financial inclusion from incubation stages of these businesses and entrepreneurs, preparing them for the future.

This agency is staying true to its objectives using radio programs running every weekday on various radio stations to sensitize the citizens about the above-listed projects.

Knowing what is possible with the transient nature of political power, it is not certain whether the strides taken will be maintained.

Taking a cue from what this agency has done, the state will need to do more in the area of multiple taxation and ease of doing business in Enugu state. The state already has a reputation for being secure and serene, when we add a business-friendly and youth loving population. Then the progress and future of the state will be secure economically and politically.

Originally published at http://discoverenugu042.wordpress.com on July 9, 2021.