TheCable

Growth Africa Startup, a growth frontier dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs, says 50 selected startups have graduated from the first phase of a week training programme at the Lagos Business School (LBS).

The startups received certificates and pitched at an event recently held at the Lagos Business School.

According to Growth Africa, the startups are young businesses aiming to increase visibility and maximise impact.

Samuel Ajiboyede, group managing director, Growth Africa Capital, said 15 startups would be selected out of the 50 that went through the training for the next phase.

“Over 1000 businesses applied, 150 were interviewed, and just 50 startups were selected. Today is the demo day, and we have entrepreneurs and mentors from different sectors who are here to hear them out and get interested in some of them. The idea is to empower them through mentorship and advisory roles, give them access to market and even funding,” Ajiboyede said.

“Through this training, startups can scale up to become job providers and impact the society. So we look out for the impact of the idea, how it can contribute to society and the zeal of the startup.”

Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, LBS’ academic director, entrepreneurship innovative centre, said the major focus of the programme is to provide impact to scale businesses.

“These people are solving real problems, and that’s an already-made market. The secret of a successful business is to create value, and value drives profit,” Onwuegbuzie said.

“We hope to give them an enabling environment, and it’s to publicise these ideas. Some of them will get access to big companies where they can work and gain experience for one year.

“If more of this type of thing initiative comes up, you can imagine what it would be like in Nigeria in the next 5 years because there would be an explosion of SME’s creating businesses and solving unemployment.”

Winnifred Uwujele, chief executive officer, Winniecense Fragrance and one of the beneficiaries, applauded the organisers of the training, adding that the experience was a rare one.

“It’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me being at this training. Lagos Business School gave their very best. You can imagine the head of MBA coming to teach you like every other student who paid a huge amount of money,” Uwujele said.

“This is a rare opportunity to have people to sponsor people to learn in Lagos Business School is a big feat, and you get all the treatment that every other student gets. It’s an awesome experience, and I am glad to be an ambassador of Growth Africa Startup.”