Following the rising economic instability that triggered poverty and unemployment in Nigeria, the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative has taken measures to eradicate poverty and unemployment through entrepreneurship training for the country’s youth, mostly adolescent girls.
The training, which was organised in partnership with Mercy Corps through Girl H projects and moderated by a team of experts from the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) across Kano, has yielded positive results as beneficiaries count on success from the journey.
In an interview shortly after the entrepreneurial training on SMES Day, as marked by the United Nations, Regina Dogo, Girl H programme coordinator in the Fage local government area, noted that they have trained mostly youth from disadvantaged families in order to support the government and families in need.
According to Dogo, “in line with the 2024 World SME Day theme as marked by the United Nations, which is leveraging the power of micro, small, and medium enterprises to eradicate poverty in communities, at the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, we feel that it is important for us to bring in our participants who are engaged in one or two businesses.
On a day like this, we mostly understand their trying moments in their business from the previous entrepreneurial training we have given them, so we can be sensitive and guide them on the best practices that will ensure their business growth and income independence.
We understand how the beneficiaries have also shown commitment to practicing what we’ve been teaching them for the past six months, as they have often shown how passionate they are about promoting their business and making it a career beyond their immediate communities. So with this development, our goal of creating wealth through entrepreneurship is actually yielding positive results.” Dogo added.
However, the Ungogo local government coordinator, Asma’u Zakari Ya’u, also highlights the significance of supporting the less privileged and how the beneficiaries are recording success.
According to Asma’u, “we have invited experts from Small and Sedium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) for the purpose of improving our participant productivity, and as you can see, the experts have taken the ground of teaching them how to market, package, and promote their produced products.
Beyond product and brand promotion, the experts also coach them on the rudiments of keeping records of profits, debts, and losses, which will significantly support their financial discipline and independence journey.
Majida Aliyu Yola, a private service provider in the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, decried the rising number of Yung girls engaging in street hocking in Nigeria as she advocated for urgent intervention from authorities and concerned citizens in the country.
Yola noted that the entrepreneurial training being organised by the Isa Wali for mostly underprivileged youth in Kano has had significant success in changing narratives, especially in regards to poverty eradication.
But we can’t do it alone, as communities and families in need are in dire need of support to live or survive, so intervention in training youths with entrepreneurial skills that will support them and their families is in dire need.
When we understand this, we will curtail not only the problem of poverty and unemployment but even the rate of sexual abuse and out-of-school children, of which most innocent adolescent girls engage in howking.
At the closing ceremony of the event, some of the beneficiaries also disclosed their groundbreaking success through entrepreneurial training.
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