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Participation in a YBI programme is easy
and rewarding
Nigeria has a youth population of over 40 Million.
At least 20% of these young men and women have the
potential to become entrepreneurs. Sadly an infinitely
small number ever do. One way of tackling this unacceptable
waste of energy and talent is to help young people
into self-employment.
You can help in three
main areas:
-
Become a business mentor
-
Join the business support network,
offering specialist advice or use of facilities
to young businesses.
-
Help to finance the revolving
loan fund which funds youth business start-ups.
You can also invest
in YBI's programmes in three main ways:
-
Give money towards the administration
of the programme. You will be investing in a valuable
local social project that is accountable to its
management board and working to an international
set of standards and benchmarks.
-
Provide money towards the business
start-up loan fund. This is a highly efficient way
of donating that gets maximum benefit from your
money because:
- the money is used again and again, each time a
new business starts up
- the value of the money is more than trebled by
the free mentoring and gifts in kind generated each
time a new business is started
-
Provide secondments and/or internships.
The programme benefits greatly from the help of
experienced managers. Working with small businesses
in the local community also provides invaluable
experience and development for your staff.
Business mentoring
Business mentors are volunteer business people who
work alongside the young person to ensure their business
has the best possible chance of surving. They act
as coach, counsellor, guide and friend.
Business mentoring need not take up a lot of time.
On average, a cusiness mentor spends 5 hours a month
in contact with the young oerson, However, it is a
strong commitment in terms of knowledge, experience
and emotion.
What do business mentors do?
They:
-
Support the creation of a successful,
surviving business,
-
Transfer their business experience
and accelerate the young person's learning,
-
Equip the young person not only
to tackle present difficulties, but also to solve
future problems,
-
Create role models,
-
Help plan the growth and development
of the business,
-
Spot problems developing, such
as cashflow difficulties, and solve them before
a crisis occurs,
-
Keeping in constant touch with
the young person, either face to face, or by phone,
-
Managing and preparing monthly
meetings to monitor progress,
-
Providing advice, gulcar,ce information
and suggestions,
-
Creating positive learning opportunities
through counselling so young people can learn to
solve problems for themselves.
-
Above all, listening
The relationship with the young person is not a conventional
relationship. The business mentor has no vested interest
in the new venture – they are not bankers, suppliers,
customers or owners of the businesss. Instead they
provide objective friendly expertise and counselling,
They cannot tell the young person what to do. They
must motivate them and help them manage their expectations,
problems and opportunities It can be intensely rewarding
work.
Where do business mentors come from?
Anyone with experience of business and managing people
can become a business mentor. Typically business mentors
can be:
- Busy executives who want to
maintain contact with the communities within which
they work,
- Retired executives who want to stay in touch with
the business environment
- Mid-career business people encouraged by their emplovers
to broaden their experience,
- Specialists such as accountants, lawyers and marketing
managers who want to work in other disciplines.
Partnership
YBI, Nigeria seeks to partner with many local and
national organisations working to help young people
and to develop enterprise. We will appreciate working
with training organisations, government agencies,
local governments and Community leaders, Rotary Clubs,
Lions Clubs, Nigerian Institute of Management, Universities,
Colleges of Technologies etc
How you can Support Us.
Yes you can get involved.
Take Part
Get in touch to find out more about us and our activities.
Become a Volunteer
Help us support the young people who need us most. Contact
us now for further details.
Help us fund our work
Voluntary donations are our lifeblood and help keep
us independent. We need to raise thousands every month.
Make a donation
If, like us, you believe that young people really are
the future of Nigeria, please make a donation. You can
become a friend of YBI by making a donation every month.
But the real satisfaction in being a donor is the knowledge
that you are helping young people to succeed.
Write to us at: Youth Business Initiative, 29 Moloney
Street, Lagos. Call us on: 01-2631555 or enquiry@ybinigeria.org
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