180 for entrepreneurial training

About 180 youths drawn from the 21 local Government Area of Anambra State, have been selected to take part in an empowerment programme to improve their entrepreneurship skills.

The Liaison officer, Anambra State Liaison Office, in Abuja, Mrs Agatha Manafa, disclosed this to newsmen during a briefing session organised for the participants.

Manafa said the youths would be equipped with catering services, and delivery skills, with focus on cake making, adding that the programme would last for five months with 25 to 30 trainees participating monthly during the period.
She said: “I decided to empower the Anambra community in Abuja. Anambra State consists of 179 town unions, and they are well-represented in the programme. I decided to train one person from a town making 179 people in cake making. This will help them improve themselves and their everyday living.

She added that the decision to sponsor such programme was due to the current economic situation in the country, and high rate of unemployment.

“This is like giving back to the society. I believe with this empowerment, they can go ahead and teach others and create business for themselves.

“The programme is entirely free for the participants. I will pay for their transportation, equipment and classes. All I want is their attention. It is not the government’s money, and we do not need money to do many things.”
She urged the participants to take advantage of the reach offered by social media, to market themselves for wider exposure.

The programme instructor and resource personnel, Mrs Chinelo Madueke, said the training would focus on cake baking and marketing.

“For the best students, maybe they will go for a masters’ class, and along the line, we can introduce other things like nutrition, cooking and drinks.

“I will also advise them on how to register their own business, use of social media, and we will also talk about partnering, and how to write proposal to get the desired results,” she stated.
Judith David, who is one of the participants, said she is passionate about learning extra skills aside getting a formal education.

“I am also motivated by the aim of being independent. I feel excited and privileged because opportunities such as this, is very scarce. I thank the organisers, and hope that we do our best. After the training, I hope to go for the masters’ class, and start my own business, and empower people in same way to make the society better.”

Another participant, Chinonso Omenankiti, said the training came at the right time, where looking for a white-collar job is difficult.