YEN to support 8,000 young entrepreneurs at Youth Empowerment Summit

The Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (YEN), an umbrella body for young Nigerian entrepreneurs, is set to host Youth Empowerment Summit (YES) 2017 between September and November this year.

The theme of the summit is,’Youth Empowerment: A Panacea for Unemployment, Economic Growth and Sustainable Development’.

The event, also known as YES2017, will provide an opportunity for YEN to empower 8,000 selected youths across the federation. While 500 youths will receive business funding/business tools through Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (YEN) and other YES2017 partners, another set of 500 will receive free business websites. Also a different set of  1000 youths will receive mentorship while 6,000 other young Nigerians will get special business training/capacity building to empower their start-ups and enable them boost their businesses operations, according to Chris Kohol, national president of YEN.

Kohol said YES2017 would be a gathering of young Nigerian entrepreneurs and youths at all stages of business development: business leaders, youth entrepreneurs, mentors, budding entrepreneurs, investors, government officials, to discuss and x-ray the challenges and proffer solutions to youth entrepreneurship and empowerment in Nigeria. He said this demonstrated YEN’s continued efforts and commitment in fostering youth entrepreneurship development and empowerment in Nigeria for sustainable growth and economic development of the country.

Kohol underscored that the Summit will be hosted in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria as follows: Lagos, Portharcourt, Yola, Kaduna, Enugu and Abuja with over 20,000 delegates, 1000 exhibitors and 60 speakers and it is expected to be the biggest entrepreneurship event to be ever hosted in Nigeria and will feature mentorship, conference, summit, business funding, networking opportunities, exhibition, and town hall meetings.

“The mission of YEN is to promote and support youth entrepreneurship development as means of achieving sustainable innovation, employment generation, economic growth and development in Nigeria hence YES2017 provides an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to access funds to grow their business, access business tools, mentorship and business training/capacity building” Kohol added.

Jude Nwankwo, chairman, national organising committee, stated the Summit Tour was slated to hold as follows: YES2017 South-West Lagos, 27th-28th September 2017;  YES2017 South-South Port Harcourt, 5th-6th October 2017; YES2017 North-East Yola, 11th -12th October 2017; YES2017 North-West Kaduna, 18th -19th October 2017; YES2017 South-East Enugu, 26th-27th October 2017; and YES2017 North-Central Abuja, 1st -2nd  November, 2017.

Odinaka Anudu