By Etop Ekanem

Another winner in the on-going MTN Cash Quest consumer promotion has emerged. He is Chigozie Okoh, a native of Ebonyi State. Chigozie had the dream of studying engineering in the tertiary institution as a young boy. That dream received a set-back the day his parents told him they may not be able to fund his tertiary education. Of course, he wept.

According to him, “it was a sacrifice that I couldn’t escape because my parents needed to train my siblings who were still in primary school, and they couldn’t afford to bear the burden of sponsoring my university education.”Chigozie’s story has changed, as he won N10 million for participating in the MTN Cash Quest promo. He has since commenced processing his documents to proceed into a university overseas, to fulfil his dream of studying engineering.

Like the young man from Ebonyi, Ekeaku Ikenna, who also won N10 million in the promo had served an uncle who couldn’t come up with the necessary financial ‘reward for stewardship’ which he would have used to set-up his own little business venture. Worst still, his attempt to escape the harsh economic landscape into Europe, led him into the hands of fraudsters, who swindled him and tactically dispossessed him of his hard earned money. He was in the village ruing his fate, when he received a call from MTN that he had won the millions that would transform his life. Ikenna is already in the process of setting up his importation business, barely one month after he smiled to the bank with MTN’s largesse.

Notwithstanding the socio-economic reality in the country, it is good to know that help can still come from sources other than one’s family, friends and government. In fact, it is a common joke here that the family only arise to help a member during a crisis. It mustn’t always be so. Young people who have great dreams need to be supported to realise them.

The financial assistance scheme in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. Young entrepreneurs with laudable business ideas are daily confronted with ridiculous interest rates and short term refund tenure when they approach their financial institutions for assistance.

Inadequate support systems for innovation amidst dearth of social security structure and viable alternatives are depressing.

The micro-finance banks seem not to have woken-up to their responsibility, as many of them seem to have forgotten that they are meant to cater for the economically active poor. As the situation is now, succor seems to be getting farther and farther. Student Empowerment Fund (SEF) is necessary to encourage entrepreneurship right from schools.

It is not just enough to introduce entrepreneurship studies in the secondary schools and universities, without putting in place, the right support structure to serve as springboard for aspiring entrepreneurs with the right ideas and initiatives.