No fewer than 1,000 entrepreneurs have been trained in Ibadan on how to access the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
Mrs Olayemi Olayinka, the Oyo Director, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), said this on Tuesday during the fourth cycle training of some of the entrepreneurs in the state.
The AGSMEIS is a loan facility of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Bank).
She said: “The training organised by the Small Scale Enterprise Department of the NDE will enable participating entrepreneurs to prepare bankable feasibility reports and business plans that are in tune with extant needs of the people.’’
She noted that such participants would be shortlisted for the CBN-NIRSAL/AGSMEIS loan.
Olayinka explained that presently, over 250 beneficiaries who had so far uploaded their business’ plans to the NIRSAL website were on the verge of accessing their loans.
The director said that the NDE recently concluded a five-day training programme for 50 women tagged: “COVID-19 Mitigation Training on Spices Production’’.
According to her, the COVID -19 is a pandemic that struck the world in every aspect of human endeavour, ranging from health, to all others.
“The viral disease which has claimed millions of lives around the world is yet to get a cure and findings have shown that only natural elements can be used to militate against the virus.
“As a result of that, the NDE designed the COVID-19 training in spices production for the women to enhance positive change in the world,” she said.
Olayemi said that the spices production training was part of the renewed efforts of government geared toward encouraging home-made products, thereby reducing importation of household cooking ingredients.
She was optimistic that the training would help the beneficiaries to be more productive, self-reliant as well as also reduce poverty to the barest minimum in the country.
In her remarks, Mrs Joyce Yarnap, Head of Women Employment Branch, Small Scale Enterprises of the NDE headquarters, said the training was in line with the directorate’s mandate of reducing unemployment in the country.
Yarnap who was represented at the occasion by Mrs Catherine Chima also charged the women to make good use of the opportunity. (NAN)
