By Moses Nosike

Considering the role of Small and Medium Enterprises in nation building, Youth Entrepreneurship and Leadership Initiative (YELI) in its effort to contribute its quota to national development, has indicated interest to assist start-up businesses struggle to survive.

However, it was reported that over 80 per cent of start-up businesses in Nigeria go into extinction in before reaching five years, due to prevailing challenges in the Nigerian operating environment. But experts revealed at the maiden edition of YELI competition that the situation could be address through capacity development and other necessary supports.

Founder of YELI, Dr Dorothy Jeff-Nnamani said that capacity building among young start-ups would translate their business ideas into viable state for sustainability, growth and profitability.

Jeff-Nnamani said further that the YELI programme is directly aimed at changing the narrative for young start-up businesses by helping them to transcend their limits and offer them opportunities of a lifetime.

Speaking at the programme in Enugu, where more than 1,000 start up businesses struggling to survive registered to be a part of a remarkable entrepreneurial quantum leap, she noted that there was need to pave the way for start- up to improve the nation’s economic outlook.

Continuing, Jeff-Nnamani said that with the growing unemployment rate, poverty and weak economic situation,  with every opportunity created, there comes exposure to it and with the projects chosen, what matters most is how much can be made and how they can evolve individually as successful entrepreneurs.

“The end goal is to help young adults get insights and advice anytime through business networking, YELI support forums and member-led sessions. Connecting with their peers to share knowledge, learning from each other to solve business challenges and also explore and further their professional development”.

She noted that the initiative already produced young industrious alumnus to pave the way for newer budding entrepreneurs. The programme which focused more on indigenes of Enugu state already received the support of the state government and other critical stakeholders like the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.

The maiden edition saw emergence of Sunday Chibuike ONAH, Chinazom Juliana UGWUJIDE and Chukwuka Paschal OGBABIDO as Winner, first Runner-Up and Second Runner-Up and 14 other finalists with prizes worth over N10,000,000 from a pool of over 10, 000 applications.

Some of the winners disclosed that they have already purchased working materials for their respective businesses with the support provided by the programme, adding that the coaching and mentoring sessions were already being applied to their businesses.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on SMEs Development and Director General, Enugu SMEs Centre, Arinze Chilo-Offiah said the SME Centre in the Enugu would offer leeway to the finalists while considering many more opportunities and what the future brings for the patch the start-up founders and their businesses.