Promoting Entrepreneurship Skills

In line with SEDIN’s responsibility for employment creation and capacity building is the introduction of the basic entrepreneurship training for secondary school students in the 3 partner States and the establishment of extra curricula Students Entrepreneurship Activity Hubs which are referred to as (SEA-Hubs) in secondary schools.

To complement the direct face-to-face training and coaching approach for both the SME Loop and the Start-up Loops, the SEDIN programme has developed an interactive learning platform (SMEsabi) using the materials from the Loops. The learning platform provides five modules relevant to both the SME Loop for existing businesses and the Start-up Loop.

Objective

The SME Business Training and Coaching Loop (SME Loop) is designed to offer MSMEs a higher level of understanding about running a business in order to stabilise existing ventures, generate more income or profit and expand businesses and employment. The SME Loop provides a combination of assets, business training and coaching, that produce rapid visible results for the benefit of the entrepreneur, its employees and the society in which the enterprise is acting in.

The SME Loop consists of 7 phases over a six-month time span for its implementation. The process includes:

  • Phase I: Coaching 1 and final selection (familiarization visits and 2 group coaching sessions)
  • Phase II: First training on basic entrepreneurship skills
  • Phase III: Coaching 2 (2 group, 4 individual coaching sessions)
  • Phase IV: Second training on advanced entrepreneurship skills
  • Phase V: Coaching 3 (2 group, 4 individual coaching sessions)
  • Phase VI: Graduation Ceremony
  • Phase VII: Follow-up and Evaluation after 12 months

Partners

1 Nigerian SME Loop master trainer
43 trainers/coaches trained to deliver SME Loop to Nigerian SMEs across the 3 partner states

Initiatives

  • Successful implementation of the 1st SME Loop in 2018: 249 enterprises (29% headed by women) graduated in 2018 for successful completion of the 1st SME Loop.
  • Increase in disposable income of 86% achieved for the participants of the 1st SME Loop
  • Review of the 1st SME Loop and application of lessons learned built-in to the 2nd SME Loop
  • 2nd SME Loop currently on-going supporting 323 enterprises
  • Adaptation of the SME Loop model to the special needs of start-up businesses

Objective

The Start-up Business Training and Coaching Loop (Start-up Loop) is designed to provide guidance, training and coaching in entrepreneurial and managerial competencies, understanding of the business environment and business planning skills for start-ups. Through the participation in the Start-up Loop, potential entrepreneurs and business start-ups are guided through the of preparing a business plan and testing its viability.

Partners

Plateau State:
PLASMIDA (Plateau State Microfinance Development Agency)

Niger State:
African Youth Empowerment in Agriculture and Industrial Development (AYEAID),
Technology Incubation Centre (TIC),
Federal University of Technology (FUT)

Ogun State:
Lead Resources
Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB)
National Directorate of Employment (NDE)
Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC)

Initiatives

  • Development and updating of training and coaching materials: a trainer manual and a participant handbook.
  • 31 trainers & coaches from 4 partner organisations trained in 2018; an additional 29 trainers and coaches trained in January/February 2019.
  • 4 Start-up Loops completed in 2018 in 3 States, with 116 participants and 106 graduates (56.7% women); 33 start-ups were able to start their business within 4 months of joining Loop
  • 8 Start-up Loops have started in March 2019 in 3 States.

Objective

The Students Entrepreneurship Activity Hub (SEA-Hub) aims at building and preparing young minds to practically understand the basics of running a successful business, foster opportunity recognition, innovation, risk-taking, critical thinking, and in the long run to enable employment creation. SEA-Hubs are expected to run mini businesses.

Partners

State Ministry of Education
State level Business Development Committee Network (BDCN)
Local Government authorities
Local enterprises
NGOs

Initiatives

  • Entrepreneurship training of students and teachers from 253 secondary schools
  • State level SEA-Hub Exhibition and Competition held
  • Upscaling to Edo State in 2019
  • 11,342 students (approx. 57% girls) introduced to SEA-Hub
  • 198 out of the 253 trained schools inaugurated and established SEA-Hub. The main SEA-Hub activities entail:
    –   Weekly extra curricula meetings
    –   Creation of mini-business with little or no funds to practice real life entrepreneurship
    –   Support by teacher/staff advisor
    –   Support by local business community through vocational or general input at meetings
    –   Opportunities for work based experiences and to exercise leadership
    –   Regular visits to local enterprises
    –   Participation at entrepreneurship competitions for SEA-Hub schools to showcase their innovations