Nigerian Tribune 20 . Tuesday, 22 March, 2011
Redeemed unveils entrepreneurship academy
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its bid to run purpose-driven socio-reli ious activities, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is set to unveil an entrepreneurship capacity building academy at the Lagos Pfovince 2 headquarte.rs, Dominion Sanctuary, Ikeja, Lagos. In a statement emanating from the Acme Road, Ikeja-domiciled Entrepreneurship Academy, the unveiling of the Academy will come up on Saturday, March 26, 2011 in a ceremony to be chaired by one of the governing council members of the church, Pas tor E. A. Odeyemi with the Chairman of the Nigeria Economic Summit group and one of the economic advisers to President GOQdluck Jonathan, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, serving as the guest speaker. According to the statement released by the office coordinating the entrepreneurship academy, the inauguration ceremony is expected to start 1 L30am at the ultra-modern auditorium of the Dominion Sanctuary situated at ACME Road, off Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos with the guest speaker, Sam Ohuabunwa, teaching on the topic, 'Entrepreneurshi p: the Panacea for Unemployment and Poverty Alleviation', among
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other activities Lined up for the inauguration ceremony. The statement explained the thought-processes that led to the establishment of the initiative. "Entrepreneurship and iI1l entrepreneurial culture contribute immensely to the socio-芦'Onomic development of a people .. The church deemed it fit therefore to commence rigorous work to empower her teeming populace and the general public in general with entrepreneurship ideas that can be transformed into wealth creation opportunities.
-Jubril Martins-Kuye, Minister of Commerce and Industry
FG launches 3 agric commodity associations Gbola Subair, Abuja
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HE Federal Government has for mally inaugurated three National Agricultural Commodity Associations, they are - Federation of Agriculture Commodity Associations of Nigeria, (FACAN), Coffee and Tea Association of Nigeria (NACOFTAN), and Potato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (POGPMAN) The launching and handing over of Certificate of Registration to
the three Agricultural Commodity Association was performed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Abubakar Muhammad on behalf of the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril MartinsKuye at the Rock View Hotel, Abuja. In his address at the ceremony, the Minister pointed out that the agricultural commodity associations are critical to the development of the Agric Commodity Sector in Ni-
NECA organises w~rkshop for female entrepreneurs .
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its resolve to-build ing the capacity of women entrepreneur in Nigeria, the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), through its desk set up to handle capacity building for women in business, has put up a 5-day business capacity building workshop tagged hWhat Every Female Entrepreneur Must Know To Succeed" programme. The .v<;ek-long intensive training for Nigerian female entrepreneurs is billed to commence Monday, Aptil 2011 at the corporate office of the business membership organization situated at Plot A2, Hakeem Balogun Street, CBO, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. . According to the statement made by the coordinato( of the training,
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-Josephine Tapgun. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry
Ijeoma !heme, it has been observed that many female entrepreneurs have been running their busi路 nesses without thinking of having an appropriate business plan or having some of the requisite skills and knowledge integral to running a business. . In her view, this has created a situation where entrepreneurs are, many times, unable to pinpoint the ca uses of the challenges they face in business and the possible so lu lions to them. According to the coordinator, it is in line with the statement above that tbe 5-day material based business workshop was put together to equip both the existing and potential female entrepreneurs with the business management skills that are
crucial to the running of successful and transgenerational businesses. The intensive training is expected to assist partiCipants to complete a basic business plan which will serve them as blueprint while running their businesses.
geria and they needed the support of government and the private sector to broaden their foundation for economic viability and improve competitiveness in non-oil revenue earnings.
He stated that agricultural commodities could only claim a place in the competitive market if the required value addition was made on them. Senator Kuye said that it was based on this fact that his Ministry was working round the clock to de-emphasise the exportation of raw agricultural products which did not provide the real market value for such commodities. The Minister noted that the commodity producers over the World were coming together to articulate their interests and speak with one voice and find the strength to influence the market to their advantage . As resu lt of this development, the Ministry nurtured the establishment of a formidable National Apex Associa -
tion, (FACAN) which would defend their interest and promote their trade. In his words," the Apex Association could access credit facilities on behalf of other national commodities associa -
tions from the federal, states, local government, commercial banks, NEXIM Banks, Banks of Industry, agriculture Bank, international commodity organizations and other financial institutions such as the World Bank, African Development Bank (AFDB) and common fund for commodities (CFC) Senator Kuye explained that the Ministry 's participation in several international commodity organisations had enabled them to initiate policies to protect the interest of our commodity sub-sector and kee p them abreast of latest developments in the trade as well as keep market access open for produce. In his goodwill mes-
sage, the National president of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN) Dr. Victor H. Iyama said that the event was laudable and epoch making in the hi s tory of the development of agricultural commodities in Nigeria and promised that the Executive would make sure that the living standards of all those involved in the value chain of agricultural commodity d eve lopment was enhanced . Earlier, in his address, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Abubakar Muhammad pointed ou t that the Ministry was responsible for promotion, formation, nurturing and
official launch of the National Apex Commodity Association to serve as a link between the government and the private sector adding that the respective commodities associations had the potential of creating massive employment, wealth and e nsuring poverty alleviation .
Whywe embarked on community training programme-NDE
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HE National Directorate of Employment (NDEl, Oyo State, Dr Akinwumi, has stated that the goal of creating skilled personnel in both rural and urban areas informed the commuruty- based skills acquisition training programme of the orgarusation, which has impacted positively on
the large number of people across the nation. In a press release on the grad ua tion / resettlement ceremony for trainees of its community skills acquisition scheme in the Oriire Local Governrnent of the state, signed by the slate co-ordinator, th e NDE said that with th e vigorous pursuit of the community programme. the rate of poverty would
be drastically reduced through employment on emerging trades, improving maketable skills in selected communities and the enhancement of competitiveness among communities.
This, according to the organisation, would help stem societal crimes and juvenile delinquences as we ll as the m ost recent cases of kidnapping. oil-
bunkering and political violence. The Oyo NDE noted that 50 participants had completed a three'month intensive programme at Oriire Local Government between December 2010 and February 2011 and were rewarded with a loan of forty thousand naira (N40,000) each to practicaUy kick-start their smal l sca le businesses.