Ebonyi business school to upskill 1, 300 youths, women entrepreneurs.

The Ebonyi Business School says it would register no fewer than 1, 300 youths and women for training in entrepreneurship as part efforts to address poverty and unemployment in the state.

Dr Ifeanyichukwu Nweli, the Lead Faculty of the privately- owned business school, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, in Abakaliki.

He said the school was registered and operated non-conventional studies with the objective of improving the quality of entrepreneurship development in the state.

Nweli, a Business Development Expert, said that the training, due to begin on Feb. 28, was mainly for unemployed persons in the three Senatorial districts of the state.

He said that the training would be focusing on special business skills, including entrepreneurship development, financial management and inclusion, ICT, forest business, and how to write business proposals, among others.

“We are going to select 100 participants from each of the 13 Local Government Areas (LGA) of the state making a total of 1, 300 persons.

“The essence is basically to bridge the gap between the knowledge and practical business skills, and between experience and job delivery.

“It also aims at reducing poverty by equipping the unemployed persons with the necessary business skills they need to function”, he added.

Nweli said there were a lot of unemployed graduates that do not know that they could start business on their own, without money.

“We are trying to help them understand the rudiments and various aspects of entrepreneurship skills that they need to start any business of their choice. Our form for the training is free of charge.

“To start a business, first, you must have a genuine business and sellable idea, good name and character. You must also have self-respect’’, Nneli said.

He added that the huge problem facing the fight against unemployment in the country was the unwillingness to delve into job creations among young people or job seekers.

“One needs not wait for another person to offer him or her a job. You must learn how to start small and dream big, work hard and have passion.

“You can start business without money by picking a product from distributors; for instance, if you are into delivery, you can collect items from people and deliver them for them, it is called drop-shipping.

“One can venture into laundry without money and many other e-businesses. You can use your android phone to run a multi-billion business. Creative writing is also another business and so many of them,” he explained. Nweli further pointed out that the school also aimed at improving Business Modelling, Business Coaching and Mentorship to help birth new businesses and assist the existing ones have access to funding, investment opportunities.