The collaboration between SEDIN’s ICSS Entrepreneurship Development Programme implemented by GOPA Worldwide Consultants and ActionAid Nigeria to provide entrepreneurship training and coaching for beneficiaries of the Dare to Hope Migration II Project in Edo state, recorded a milestone in implementation at the graduation ceremony of successful participants and cooperatives. 932 beneficiaries (706 women, 74 returnees) in 91 duly registered cooperatives were graduated from the CREATE and START modules.
As part of the implementation, a NGN42 Million performance-based challenge fund was made available to top performing cooperatives to support their business endeavors. At the event, ActionAid Nigeria awarded top performing cooperatives with their respective amounts based on well established assessment criteria.
The cooperatives from Auchi, Uromi and Benin were trained in Fashion, Hair Styling, Poultry, Fishery, Aluminum Fabrication, Graphics Design, Catering, Shoe and Bag Production, Cosmetology, Makeover and Bead Making and supported with the business spaces, livelihood equipment and start-up capital.
The beneficiaries were then taken through a 15-days intensive ICSS Entrepreneurship Development Programme using the GIZ/SEDIN CREATE and START Modules. which exposed them to basic entrepreneurship knowledge, helping them create a concrete business idea and formalize their business, obtaining a business bank account and most importantly training the beneficiaries to draw up their own Business Plans at the individual and cooperative levels.
Two Edo based ICSS-SEDIN partners, KAIROS Youth Empowerment and Society for the Empowerment of Young Persons (SEYP) implemented the training using the SEDIN ICSS Entrepreneurship Development Program.
The graduation ceremony held on the 3rd of December 2022 in Benin, Edo State, with various dignitaries including the Deputy Governor of Edo state, represented by the Commissioner for Ministry of Business Trade and Cooperatives (MBDC), Commissioner of Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs, representatives of the Ministry of Education, NAPTIP and other MDAs in the state.
