In the News!

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday in
Abuja launched the $50 million Venture
Capital Fund also known as the YouWin!
Small and Medium Enterprise, SME,-Growth
Fund.
Mr. Jonathan launched the fund alongside the
fourth round of the Youth Enterprise with
Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin) programme at
an event held at the Banquet Hall of the
Presidential Villa.
The fourth edition is expected to support
additional 1,500 entrepreneurs along with the
SME-Growth fund, which is a private equity
fund for entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Jonathan said the
new enterprise fund would enable those who
won previous grants from the YouWin
programme to take their businesses to the
next level.
He said judicious administration of the fund
would require hard work on the side of
government, adding that if government worked
hard, it could attract more contributions from
investors.
The president further noted that the new fund
would be managed by independent fund
managers alongside the government and “you
will not need to know somebody to access it”.
He said that selection of beneficiaries would
be highly competitive and strictly based on
merit.
The president lauded the efforts of the
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
whom, she said, has so far successfully
coordinated three batches of the YouWin
programme.
Citing available records, Mr. Jonathan
expressed delight that a total of 22,000 jobs
had been created by the first and second
editions of YouWin.
He expressed the hope that with the launch of
the fourth edition, the total number of jobs
would rise to 44,000.
The president, who had earlier inspected an
exhibition by beneficiaries of the programme,
expressed happiness over the quality of
products which, he said, were of international
standard.
Describing YouWin as arguably one of the
finest initiatives of his administration, Mr.
Jonathan said that the response of youths to
the programme was a source of pleasure to
him.
In her speech, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said that the
disbursement of funds in the third phase of
the programme would commence shortly as
the hitches had been cleared.
She added that another 1,500 entrepreneurs
would be supported with grants of between
one million naira and 10 million naira to
enable them to improve or run their
businesses, expand them and create jobs.
(NAN)
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I have decided to create this thread to discuss Issues related to it. And get to see how many of us on Nairaland would access it.

If you have won it before, you can also share your success story.

https://apply.youwin.org.ng/registerp.php

To be eligible for the Business Plan
Competition you must satisfy the following
criteria
You must be a proven citizen of Nigeria no
older than 45 years (proof of identity:
International passport/Drivers License/
National ID/Voters card required)
You must have a post-secondary school
qualification
Your proposed business venture must be
within the national borders of Nigeria, and
with the intention of employing Nigerian
citizens.
Your proposed venture must not entail the
production or distribution of weapons,
alcoholic beverages, tobacco or/and
gambling, or any activities in contradiction
with the Nigerian constitution
You must prepare an innovative business
concept summary
You must choose to participate in one award
pool. There are 6 regional pools on the basis
of geo-political zone as identified by market in
which you want to do business.

An Interview with one of the winners of Youwin 2011.

Utibe: Writing business plan is not like writing
a letter. Sometimes you might be very good in
writing good English and you can speak
fluently. When it comes to writing a business
plan, it’s a different ball game. You don’t just
write irrelevant stories. You need to put the
relevant things first; the facts and statistics. If
you put something that is boring, write
stories, the judges will not have that time to
read through long stories. This is a
competition. You don’t have to write 500,000
words just to get the point. When you are
writing your business plan you need to give
them the fact. For instance, may be you are
going into agriculture; the government has a
good plan like giving loan. Like if you are into
poultry they will give you some incentives.
Show them those incentives, and say this is
what I stand to gain if I go into farming. So
give them facts. Proof to them that the
environment is conducive…

read more www.afterschoolafrica.com/4706/how-i-won-in-the-youwin-business-plan-competition-a-must-read-interview-with-utibe-etim/