British Council, firm to empower 80 young entrepreneurs with grants, business skills

Octoville Development Company, an impact advisory firm, has partnered with the British Council and King’s Trust International to empower 80 young Nigerian entrepreneurs with sustainable business skills.

Chikodi Onyemerala, the director of programmes at the British Council in Nigeria, said youth unemployment is identified as a major problem, and the initiative aims to strengthen young people’s capacity to start and nurture their own businesses.

“If entrepreneurship is not their thing, the skills they will get here will make them more employable,” Onyemerala said.

“Core skills including confidence, communication, working in a team, which every organisation is actually struggling with at the moment.”

The programmes director mentorship, internship and mentorship opportunities, and grants will be provided to the participants to jumpstart their initiatives, supporting serious-minded individuals.

Onyemerala added that the organisers conduct a study spanning three to five years to assess the programme’s impact and create path stories.

‘80 YOUNG BUSINESS OWNERS IN ABUJA WILL BE EMPOWERED’

Oluwaseun Olorunmaye, the chief operating officer (COO) at Octoville said the programme is aimed at enhancing the skills of 80 young business owners in Abuja.

The COO said the initiative will equip participants with better business management, finance assessment, and investment attraction skills — making them more effective entrepreneurs.

“At the end of the training, by the 8th week, we’re going to be having a pitch event. At that event, we’ll be giving a 300,000 Naira grant to these businesses,” Olorunmaye said.

“From experience, we found that these businesses are able to at least use that seed capital to first being able to kickstart operations, for those that stop operations at some point, get raw materials, and some are also able to use this small seed to go on to register their businesses.

“In summary, I would say our goal is to ensure that these businesses are able to move from just an idea to a live business. For others, these businesses are being able to move from at least a nano to a micro enterprise in this case.”

He said eight promising businesses will receive a grant of N300,000 each at the end of the training, while five additional businesses will be incubated and provided with comprehensive support, including office space and mentorship, to bring their ideas to life.

On his part, Nelson Okwonna, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Octoville, explained that the training ecosystem, including universities and secondary schools, has failed to provide young people with the necessary core competencies, thereby hindering their development.

Okwonna said there are plans to launch a partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the federal ministry of youth, to host a 1,000-person training programme called emerging managers business analyst programme (EMBAP).

Representatives of the ministry of youth and SMEDAN were in attendance.

In December 2024, Octoville partnered with the British Council and King’s Trust International to support 70 youth-led businesses with training and mentorship opportunities.