A grant of N56m has been given to 140 Niger Delta youths from the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Joint Venture, the oil major has said.
The SPDC said in a statement that the talented youths from eight states of the Niger Delta graduated from the special Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria entrepreneurial training programme.
According to the statement, the programme provides business and financial support to enable them to establish small and medium-scale businesses.
It said the beneficiaries were drawn from Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, and Rivers states, 20 of whom were under the Oporoma Special LiveWIRE Nigeria category in Bayelsa.
“These beneficiaries have now become part of the 7,212 Niger Delta young entrepreneurs who have graduated from the LiveWIRE Nigeria programme since SPDC launched this flagship youth enterprise development programme in 2003,” SPDC’s General Manager External Relations, Igo Weli, said at a recent graduation in Port Harcourt,.
Represented at the ceremony by SPDC Manager for Social Performance and Social Investment, Gloria Udoh, Weli said, “Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria has produced young entrepreneurs, most of whom are now employers of labour. Some of the beneficiaries are also given the opportunity to play in SPDC’s supply chain as vendors and are provided with access to growth capital.”
The traditional head of Oporoma, Andy Zighadina, commended the SPDC for initiating such a laudable programme to benefit the youths of the community.
The monarch also offered cash rewards to the top five beneficiaries from Oporoma to make appreciable success in the first three months after the graduation, according to the statement.
The Managing Director, FarmToJuice Limited, Esther Ekiotenne, a 2019 winner of the Shell Group Global Top 10 Innovator award, and a solar energy entrepreneur, Henry Chikodi, told the new beneficiaries that passion, hard work and discipline were necessary requirements for business success.
The statement said, “The Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria Programme is part of the global Shell LiveWIRE social investment programme, which enables young people to start their own businesses and create employment. It provides young entrepreneurs with access to essential business knowledge and customised support they need to transform their enterprising ideas into viable and sustainable businesses.
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