Nigeria launches YouWinBatch 4

Nigeria launches YouWinBatch 4

Source: Premium Times

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday
in Abuja launched the $50 million
Venture Capital Fund also known as the
YouWin! Small and Medium Enterprise,
SME,-Growth Fund.


Mr. Jonathan launched the fund
alongside the fourth round of the Youth
Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria
(YouWin) programme at an event held at
the Banquet Hall of the Presidential
Villa.

The fourth edition is expected to support
additional 1,500 entrepreneurs along
with the SME-Growth fund, which is a
private equity fund for entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Jonathan
said the new enterprise fund would
enable those who won previous grants
from the YouWin programme to take
their businesses to the next level.

He said judicious administration of the
fund would require hard work on the
side of government, adding that if
government worked hard, it could attract
more contributions from investors.

The president further noted that the new
fund would be managed by independent
fund managers alongside the
government and “you will not need to
know somebody to access it”.
He said that selection of beneficiaries
would be highly competitive and strictly
based on merit.

The president lauded the efforts of the
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala, whom, she said, has so far
successfully coordinated three batches of
the YouWin programme.

Citing available records, Mr. Jonathan
expressed delight that a total of 22,000
jobs had been created by the first and
second editions of YouWin.

He expressed the hope that with the
launch of the fourth edition, the total
number of jobs would rise to 44,000.
The president, who had earlier inspected
an exhibition by beneficiaries of the
programme, expressed happiness over
the quality of products which, he said,
were of international standard.

Describing YouWin as arguably one of
the finest initiatives of his
administration, Mr. Jonathan said that
the response of youths to the programme
was a source of pleasure to him.

In her speech, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said
that the disbursement of funds in the
third phase of the programme would
commence shortly as the hitches had
been cleared.

She added that another 1,500
entrepreneurs would be supported with
grants of between one million naira and
10 million naira to enable them to
improve or run their businesses, expand
them and create jobs.