A group of young entrepreneurs have called on corporate organisations, government and non-governmental agencies to support entrepreneurs and programmes that encourage entrepreneurship among youths in the country.
The entrepreneurs, under the auspices of Hype Communications, lamented that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) are the most neglected in the country, with little support.
They also said that programmes designed to incubate business ideas and offer growth support to MSMEs like The Next Titan – a Nigeria reality TV show – are often neglected.
According to them, past winners of business & ideas incubation shows such as The Next Titan, which is currently in its 6th season and has continued to enlighten and stimulate the entrepreneurship spirit in youths, have gone on, over the years, to become employers of labour and are contributing massively to the development of the country’s GDP, hence the need for support for them.
The Director of Media, Hype Communications, Catherine Agbo, in a statement on Tuesday pointed out that available statistics by SMEDAN and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that Nigeria has over 37 million MSMEs who employ over 54 million skilled and unskilled labour and contribute about 54 percent of the country’s GDP.
The entrepreneurs lamented such business-focused reality TV shows in Nigeria rarely get the attentions they deserved unlike in other countries where entrepreneurship and such shows enjoy a lot of attention and popularity.
“Citizens of such countries, particularly the young, leverage on such shows to develop their mindsets, which has been identified as one of the reasons for the advancement of the youths in those countries in entrepreneurship, creativity and technology.
“It is for this reason that even when globally-successful educative entrepreneurial shows such as ‘Dragons Den’ and ‘The Apprentice’ were brought to Nigeria, they failed to attract the same level of attention,” the entrepreneurs stated.
“Entrepreneurs are by nature, job creators, and for every entrepreneur that is supported to grow, there is one person less in the job market who goes on to provide jobs for others. Entrepreneurship plays a critical role in the economic growth and standard of living of the country and should be encouraged,” they added.
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