The Anambra State Government has empowered five thousand trained youths in the pilot phase of the ‘One Youth, Two Skills’ programme with seed capital to the tune of two billion naira as a start up fund.
The state Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, presented the cheques to the beneficiaries during the graduation and business financing ceremony for batch one beneficiaries of the scheme at the Anambra International Convention Centre, Awka.
Soludo explained during the presentation ceremony that having formed themselves into cooperatives, there is a special funding put aside through Anambra State Small Business Agency, (ASBA) for those who want to scale up their enterprise to access grants for up to five million naira.
He pointed out that the grant each of them will receive should be enough to purchase the equipment they need to start, asking them to approach their respective local government areas next week to pick up their cheques which are ready.
While revealing that human capital is Anambra’s greatest resource, the governor described youths as the bridge to the future, saying that his administration believes in making empowerment in a sustainable manner.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr. Patrick Agha-Mba said that the part two will soon commence, pointing out that it is a revolution to take the youth to the next level and projected that in the next two years, the beneficiaries would have become employers of labour.
The Deputy Director of UNIZIK Business School, Prof. Chinedu Onyeizugbe, said that the robust curriculum designed to develop trainees’ skills in the crosscutting disciplines that make for successful entrepreneurship and business management, included courses on personal development skills, personal thinking skills, among others.
Symbolic presentation of certificates cheque to beneficiaries by the Governor, climaxed the event.
