Jonathan launches $50m SME growth fund

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday launched a $50 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) growth fund to enhance the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWIN) programmed whose fourth edition he flagged off.

Performing the ceremony at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, he said the fund was the required seed capital to enable the government to attract more investors to the ongoing efforts to create jobs for the youth.

YouWIN, which was first launched 2011, is an entrepreneurial scheme designed for entrepreneurs aged between 18  and 45 years with the objective of creating thousands of jobs by helping winners to strengthen and expand existing businesses as well as turn innovative ideas into solid businesses.

The President said awardees of the YouWIN programme should be able to access the SME growth fund without having to go through any godfather.

According to him, “This fund will identify and further empower a few of you, some who are here and some new people that will join us, that are interested in expanding what they already have through the Youwin or even starting new businesses.”

Jonathan said the new fund will be managed by independent fund managers alongside the government and “you will notneed to know somebody to access it.”

He said access to the fund, which will identify and invest in a few enterprises, will be highly competitive as selection will be strictly on merit.

The latest tranche of YouWIN awardees is made up of 1,500 entrepreneurs who are now expected to actualise the business plans that enable them to be selected and employ other young men and women.

Jonathan was confident that the new enterprise fund will enable those who have won previous grants from the YouWIN programme to take their businesses to the next level.

He commended the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, for successfully coordinating three tranches of YouWIN so far, adding that from available records the first and second editions of the YouWIN created 22,000 jobs.

“Hopefully, when the disbursement of the third phase commences and by the time the fourth phase takes off, we are expecting a minimum of 44,000 jobs to be created by young Nigerians for young Nigerians,” he said.

He remarked that 18,000 young people who did not directly benefit from the scheme have also been trained and had sourced money from independent sources to set up their business and are also now employing other Nigerians.

In her remark,  the Minister of Finance disclosed that disbursements for the third phase of the programme will commence very soon as the hitches delaying it have been cleared.

She emphasised that beneficiaries of the programme are selected purely on merit based on the business plans they presented.

Iweala added that another 1,500 one entrepreneurs will be supported with grants of between N1 million and N10  million  to help them make improvements on their businesses and employ more people.

 

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Jonathan launches $50m SME growth fund