Over 200 undergraduates of the Sokoto State University (SSU) will benefit from the expanded Fidelity Bank’s Youth Empowerment Academy (YEA) this year, the bank has said.
The YEA, according to a statement from the bank, is the leading bank’s response to stimulating entrepreneurial spirit among the teeming youths across the country.
The bank, and its strategic partner the Gazelle Academy started training SSU students on Monday to flag-off the seventh edition of the Youth Empowerment Academy. Apart from the typical training on tailoring and make-up, participants will also be provided with requisite skills and first-hand knowledge in Fashion Designing, Cloth Embellishment, Cocktail and Phone Engineering among others.
The bank says it is turning to youth empowerment because the world is looking for youths with fresh eyes and lively determination, to create the much-needed change by throwing convention out the window. “That’s why the bank, through its laudable interventions, continues to develop innovative programmes that will unleash the creative energies of Nigerian youths which in turn represents formidable new frontiers for sustainable national development”, the bank’s Managing Director Nnamdi Okonkwo said.
YEA which is part of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, is a skills acquisition, training and productivity improvement scheme targeted at undergraduates in Nigeria’s higher institutions. This programme, is seeking to create a new breed of entrepreneurs amongst Nigeria’s youths.
Over 3,000 students have benefited from YEA programs at University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Waziri Umar Federal Polytechnic, Birnin-Kebbi; Kebbi State, Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State; Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt; Bayero University, Kano and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
Some beneficiaries who have since started their own businesses were recognised at the event. Fidelity Bank said it will provide students with high-quality sewing machines, pressing irons and make-up kits to make sure that undergraduates utilise the skills and experiences garnered at the youth empowerment workshop to improve their lives before and after graduation.
In essence, the Bank has succeeded in making entrepreneurs out of students who will be financially responsible and independent. Through this programme, the Bank has earned a significant measure of goodwill with state and local governments that have in some cases translated to a business relationships and have contributed to the Bank’s bottom line.
