From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The president Ugwumba Foundation, Uche Nwosu said the foundation has empowered more than 5,000 Nigerians through the leadership training and enterprise challenge.
Nwosu stated this at the 2022 Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge and leadership forum, held in Abuja, yesterday.
He said he had tasted the other side of life,” and wanted to impact on the lives of young people.
He said, “The motivation for this program came as a result of my upbringing. I went through a hard time in life, I was a young man that can be proud to say that I hawked on the streets from Aba to Maiduguri where I sold ice water and oranges and so many other things I hawked.
“While growing up I saw the other side of life, by the special grace of God, God brought me from grass to grace and I said to myself what can I offer to humanity, what will be my contribution to those who went through the processes that I went through. And I decided to open what I call the Ugwumba Centre for Leadership Development in Africa.
“The centre is one that will nurture and educate young people in leadership. We also encourage them through our enterprise challenge by giving them some grants so that they can open up their businesses. We have young Nigerians in this country who are very talented and willing to work but they need a little bit of push for them to go ahead with what they know and how best to go about it.
“So in Ugwumba Centre we actually encourage them with a little bit of fund or grant to enable them showcase their talent. So many have won, we have empowered more than 5,000 Nigerians through the leadership training and enterprise challenge.
“Basically this is just part of me. I told my God bless me so that I can bless others, so God has blessed me and I have decided to bless others.”
He called on the federal government and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to partner with non-governmental organisations and civil society organizations in reaching out to talented individuals at the grassroots.
Nwosu said, “We have these funds that are being released by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to young people in Nigeria, it’s high time they partner with NGOs. A government official who works with Humanitarian Ministry in Imo state cannot tell me that he knows the vulnerable persons in my village more than me.
“So if the Ministry can partner with these agencies and allow them to source for these Nigerians that are seeking for help and implement it, than using somebody who always stays in the office and is hurrying to go back home. I suggest that they partner with agencies, not only Ugwumba Centre but other agencies who are into exactly what we do, for them to carry out this project better.”
On his part, Director-General, Ugwumba Leadership Centre, Mr. Remy Chukwunyere, said so many young Nigerians have untapped talents, and that the centre deemed it fit to empower these young talented Nigerians to have better future for themselves.
Earlier, MD/CEO of the Abuja Enterprise Agency, Mallam Shehu Abdulkadir, revealed that the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, has given an approval for the formalisation of SMEs in Nigeria, with a 50 percent discount, adding that last month, the Agency disbursed N200 million to 913 SMEs in Abuja.
According to him, “The informal sector in the SME subsector is something that has been a problem, in trying to address this challenge and to bring all SMEs under the formal sector, we approached the CAC to give us some discount towards facilitating the formalisation of SMEs in Nigeria.
“We are privileged that we got an approval, 50 percent discount, first quarter next year we are going to roll it out and ensure that we register 2,000 businesses within the first quarter next year and giving them additional discount as well different from what the CAC has given them. This is one of our strategy in Abuja Enterprise Agency of formalisation of SMEs in Nigeria.”
The U-Fund for Women
At the climax of the event, the Center unveiled its Ugwumba Fund for Women, which is a micro-grant scheme targeted at women traders in the rural areas.
They are the target beneficiaries of the U-Fund for Women program, which was unveiled by Amb. Dr. Kema Chikwe, the Former Minister of Transport and Aviation.
Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge
This year, over 700 Nigerian youths participated in the start-ups challenge and after the three preliminary pitching competitions, these startups emerged as top 10 finalists; Smart Bra by Bolarinwa Kemisola, Beatz Technologies by Orji Emmanuel, Wall Socket Power Bank by Victor Eze, Enact Care by George Adelusi Deborah, Early Child Tech Hub by Umar Hassan, the Lightning Artz by Obanijesu Francis, Gee Naturals Skincare by Geraldine Harbor, MohBuy by Bolaji Mohammed Luqman,Venn Biscuit by Venn Theophilus, and and Food Kaban by Hapsa Hickson.
The top 10 finalists competed for star prizes of N1 million, N700K, N500K, N300K and N200K during the grand finale of the 2022 Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
The winners are:1st Prize: The Lightning Artz by Obanijesu Francis
2nd Prize: Venn Biscuit by Venn Theophilus, and 3rd Prize: Early Child Tech Hub by Umar Hassan
