BY Mayowa Tijani
AACLE International, a UK-based company founded by Nigerian professionals, is set to launch an online community of entrepreneurs providing financial and other solutions to the business needs of each member of the community.
AACLE, whose website launches Thursday, December 1, will target young school leavers, young adults with viable business ideas and SMEs.
The company plans to support these groups with business grants ranging from N20,000 to N1million.
According to Tosin Adebusuyi, AACLE’s director of social enterprise, the aim of AACLE is to help bridge the gap as a social enterprise that provides a veritable and robust space for interaction among entrepreneurs on one hand; and interaction with solution providers on the other hand.
“These solution providers are both private and institutional and they bring to the table the seed capital, startup fund, growth capital and expansion fund to existing and start-up SMEs,” she said.
“By the time it is launched, aacle.com will become the biggest village, a global melting pot, for entrepreneurs across Nigeria and beyond where everybody’s interest is the overall welfare of the promoter and his/her business. This is the on-line network that brings sustainable solutions to diverse challenges of the Nigerian entrepreneur.”
Adebusuyi also noted that the company hopes to empower the next generation of prospective small and micro entrepreneurs with business intelligence and start-up grants.
She said it would also provide existing and struggling small ventures with growth financing with no collateral security, support pensioners and the unemployed with small grants for business ventures and provide free on-line counsel to the unemployed in the area of CV writing, job hunting and interview preparation.
Meanwhile, as part of its entry efforts in job and wealth creation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, through its Entrepreneurship Development Centre, has partnered with AACLE which gives the company more in-road into other parts of the country starting with the southwest.
Olumide Ajayi, program director, CBN-EDC Southwest, every person that enrolls for the program will enjoy world class facilitation and business development services which also includes writing of their business plans and post training field visits, access to funding from the CBN MSME intervention fund and other funding opportunities, linkage with established organisations for internship, as well as 12 months of post training mentoring from the centre.
Though registration fee for the CBN-EDC is N5,000, AACLE has offered to pay for 600 Nigerians who register on the platform and possess a minimum of OND qualification and a BVN among other requirements.
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