One hundred and fifty Nigerian female entrepreneurs will be selected for funding from 1000 entrepreneurs that will be trained in this year’s MTN Y’ellopreneur initiative. These women will have the opportunity to pitch their sustainable business ideas to receive N3 million grant each from the MTN Foundation.
This marks the second phase of the initiative and will see 1,000 women from across Nigeria trained on entrepreneurship. During its first phase that kicked off in 2023, 500 female business owners were trained and 200 Y’ellopreneurs selected to participate in the final pitch event.
In 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that a noteworthy 40% of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the nation are owned by women. This finding represents a substantial advancement towards greater gender parity in the entrepreneurial sector. This is evidence that the efforts from initiatives like MTN’s Y’ellopreneur are yielding positive results.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director, MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, stated that, “While we are encouraged that more women are taking on entrepreneurship in the country, there is more to do as women are still largely disadvantaged in terms of capital and business skills. Through the Y’ellopreneur programme, we are able to empower this critical demography in the country while supporting the government’s effort towards economic revitalization.”
The Y’ellopreneur program has proven to be a viable programme aimed at empowering women, particularly Nigerian female entrepreneurs. While this second phase boasts of interesting events and opportunities for Nigerian women, the initiative, through MTN Foundation intervention might likely continue annually as it is designed to build the entrepreneurial skills of Nigerian women through capacity-building sessions and provision of equipment loans to the selected entrepreneurs.
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L-R: Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, Founder, Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR); Mr. Dennis Okoro, Director, MTN Foundation; Dr. Olawale Anifowose, General Manager, Enterprise Development Centre (EDC); Mrs. Odunayo Sanya, Executive Director of MTN Foundation; Kabiru Yusuf, Assistant Chief Producer, Voice of Nigeria; Mrs Aishatu Sadauki, Director, MTN Foundation and Hon. Reginald Okeya, Director, MTN Foundation at the Y’ellopreneur Media Conference held in the MTN Towers on 5th March, 2024.
