Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has partnered with Nestle Nigeria and Redwood Consulting in training over 1000 youths in a free entrepreneurship skills program tagged ‘NECApreneur’
This was disclosed in a joint statement in Lagos by NECA’s Director-General, Mr Timothy Olawale; Managing Director, Redwood Consulting, Mrs Hannah Oyebanjo; and Category Manager, Coffee, Nestle Nigeria, Mr Olugbenga Alabi.
The collaborative corporate social responsibility effort by the organisations which began in March, would continue to run until the end of June.
According to Olawale, NECApreneur was launched as part of NECA’s mission to influence economic and socio-labour policies in order to create a favourable business environment. He also disclosed that even though NECA’s entrepreneurial courses are paid, the assocaition decided to open it for free to the general public during this period.
In his words “NECAPreneur is an e-solution targeted at providing an easy-to-access opportunity for the teeming public to upscale their entrepreneurial skills and ultimately add to national development.
“Since, most people are at home and have extra hours, why not help them put the hours to good use by providing relevant trainings such that at the end of this COVID-19 pandemic, they will be armed with skills to help them get prepared for times ahead,”
Alabi of Nestle, who commended the initiative, said the initiative was in same tune with his company’s Neacafe “Start Strong, Finish strong” campaign. He urged every young entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur to take advantage of the free opportunity to prepare themselves for the times ahead.
In the same vein, Oyebanjo, MD, Redwood Consulting, a training firm, urged Nigerians to take advantage of the free training to prepare for the uncertain times ahead after the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to her “The online courses are suitable for different stages of the entrepreneurial journey.
“Topics include ‘How Anyone Can Start a Business; Market Knowledge; Logistics and Operations’ and many more, making the training highly relevant for all entrepreneurs.The courses are easy to access for free until the end of June 2020, ” Oyebanjo said.
