British Council, firm train 85 young entrepreneurs on business skills

Octoville Development Company, an impact advisory firm, has partnered with the British Council and King’s Trust International, to empower 85 young entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs through it intensive skills development programme.

The participants graduated from the programme on Thursday to boost business capacity and workplace readiness.

The initiative, tagged ‘Youth Sustainable Enterprise Challenge (YSEC),’ was held in Abuja to equip participants with practical entrepreneurship and employability skills while creating pathways for innovation and business growth.

The highlight of the 2025 edition was a pitch competition, in which participants presented their enterprise ideas before a panel of judges.

Octoville said eight winners emerged, each receiving N300,000 in seed funding to scale their ventures.

Speaking at the event, Chikodi Onyemerela, director of programmes at the British Council, said YSEC was launched in Nigeria three years ago to provide young people with alternative and sustainable livelihoods.

“The initiative helps provide skills for young people across four states in Nigeria — Abuja, Ogun, Rivers, and Jigawa. The intention is to empower them to start businesses and also equip those who are not entrepreneurship-minded with employability skills to contribute to the GDP,” he said.

Nelson Okwonna, chief executive of Octoville, described the programme as unique because it targets Nigerians aged 18 to 35 who already show interest in national development and are taking steps to establish businesses.

“We are looking for people who are already willing, interested and capable. And we are now working with them to make that happen,” Okwonna said.

He added that some participants will also receive grants to kickstart their ventures.

‘FG WILLING TO WORK WITH PRIVATE SECTOR TO CREATE JOBS’

Kehinde Awujoola, special assistant to the minister of youth development on gender matters, said the administration of President Bola Tinubu would continue to partner with the private sector to create employment opportunities.

“The minister has been operating an open-door policy, bringing in organisations like Octoville to collaborate and co-create solutions for Nigerian youth,” she said.

Olabimpe Fawale, head of women and youth, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said the federal government cannot do it all.

“We don’t even have the resources in terms of human capital, funding. So there is no way only SMEDAN can serve almost 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria,” she said.

Fawale also said the entrepreneurs are open to using their facilities and other support, structures and services.

Damilola Sotiminu, country director of King’s Trust International, advised beneficiaries to remain resilient in the face of challenges.

The ceremony was attended by government and institutional partners, including the ministry of youth development, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the ministry of women affairs and the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), were represented at the ceremony.