In 2021, Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND Foundation) started the scale-up of the NDYEP project in Delta State. In the first phase, 631 youths completed vocational skills training in various sectors, including Integrated Agriculture, Building Construction, ICT, and Services. The project further worked with a Business Development Service provider to train hundred and eighty-five (185) of the youth participants on entrepreneurship, guiding them to develop business ideas and plans that will enable them to start their own businesses and also offer them the opportunity to access the business start-up funds from the Federal Government through the Central Bank and NIRSAL or from Sterling Bank and other banks through Sombriero Kapital.
In February 2023, the Youth Employment Pathways (YEP) Project launched a Start-up Business Challenge Fund for youth entrepreneurship to aid participants’ transition into entrepreneurship. 178 youths applied for short-term funds to enable them to kick-start their enterprises at different locations in Delta State. The opportunity to apply for this funding was only available to past DYEP-trained youths who completed training in the economic sectors mentioned above. The applications were processed through a competitive process, and 66 youth applicants emerged as successful for the awards.
- 60 of them as individual businesses and
- as group enterprises of 3 persons each.
Grant Signing Ceremony
The 2nd challenge fund grants award was commissioned on June 13, 2023, at the PIND EDC office at Warri Delta State. The 2nd challenge fund competition was launched to support the transition of participants to entrepreneurship. The YEP program realizes the limitation of wage employment opportunities and promotes self-employment as a viable option for income earning. The first challenge fund competition was completed in 2021 for beneficiaries in the pilot phase.
Most of the youth beneficiaries didn’t wait for the project to call for entrepreneurship training when they started to try their hands at the various businesses.
The program runs an end-to-end model; the post-training segment, as is the technical and soft skills training, is critical to job linkages, enterprise development, and income earning.
After the competition of technical skills training, entrepreneurship training was conducted to prepare participants for self-enterprise. In the end, most of the youth participants applied to the challenge fund competition. Valid applications were reviewed for the best innovative and feasible business ideas.
The final part of the competition saw applicants pitching their business ideas and developing plans for implementing and sustaining their new start-up businesses. Some of them were ahead with trials and experimentations and already earning income.
In all, 62 businesses emerged successful. 2 group businesses of 3 persons each and 60 individual businesses. Of this number, 37 persons (59.7%) were female, while only 1 person was a person with a disability (PWD). 32 beneficiaries were in the Services sector, including photography, videography, fashion, finished leather, and solar installation. 15 beneficiaries were in Agriculture, 8 in Building Construction, and 7 in ICT.
The grants will help the beneficiaries purchase items, equipment, or services to support their new start-up business in the sectors.
The Youth Employment Pathways (YEP) Program
In 2016 and 2017, when unemployment across the country rose to its peak, PIND Foundation started the YEP program in 3 states (Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers) in the Niger Delta.
The program targeted youths, given the high unemployment and underemployment rate among this category of population,
Within the program inception phase in 2018, models and frameworks were developed to test youth job readiness and to identify pathways to employment and income generation for participating youths. The program worked with private sector-led technical vocational institutions (TVETs), and the Nigerian Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to develop robust technical vocational training and soft skills curricula in various trades in different sectors to guide skills development among youth participants.
In the pilot phase of 2017 to 2020, the project, which was funded by the Ford Foundation, trained over 5,000 youths in various sectors, with nearly 70% of them linked to employment or starting enterprises of their own.
The program’s pilot phase was massively successful, and this was attributed to the labor statistics and analysis, which identified economically viable sectors and skill demand needs for workforce development. Skills training was targeted and tailored to suit industry demands and economic needs.
Given its success rate, PIND expanded the program to Delta State in 2021, and 631 youths completed the first set of vocational skills training across various centers at Warri and Asaba.
Good evening please when is the next application for the NDYEP program
Please I need a grant to increase my business I will be very delighted to have this grant thanks so much
It’s my pleasure to learn about this Foundation, going through the profile, you have undoubtedly done a great job to develop the youth.
Pls kindly furnish me on how to be a volunteer in FIND so that I can be part of your trainings.
Thanks..