A COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED BY PARTICIPANTS OF 2017 YouWiN CONNECT CAPACITY BUILDING MASTER CLASS TRAINING HELD IN MARCH 2018 AT VARIOUS DESIGNATED LOCATIONS NATIONWIDE.

Participants bring to the notice of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Stakeholders of the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria(YouWiN) Connect Programme, all concerned Nigerians who are passionate about the development of young entrepreneurs and youth in Nigeria, and the general public that:

(i) As part of the just concluded YouWiN Connect Capacity Building Programme, Master Class Trainings tagged 'YouWiN Connect Academy' held for 3 days each, at various designated locations across the 6 geopolitical zones of our dear country, Nigeria.

(ii) About 5000 Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria who are Nigeria citizens, doing businesses and ready to start up businesses in Nigeria were invited via emails and SMS from various towns, cities and communities across the nation.

(iii) The 5000 invited participants of the Master Class were chosen from about 61000 who partook in the Online Trainings tagged YouWiN Connect Learning Management System (LMS) and scored very high marks. The 61,000 persons had earlier been selected from the hundreds of thousands who applied for the programme.

(iv) The Master Trainings were face to face, in-class specific trainings which build on what participants had previously learnt during the YouWiN Connect LMS and will hopefully increase participants capacity of succeeding as business owners.

(v) Participants were trained on sectors of Agriculture/ Agro- processing, Construction, Fashion, Information and Communication Technology, and Manufacturing with Business Model Canvass (BMC), Cluster specific BMC and Business Plan amongst others  as courses taken and participants were given certificates to mark the end of trainings.

(vi) The attendance at the trainings all over the country were very impressive as almost all who were invited attended the trainings for 3 days each from March 12 through March 24, 2018 at designated training centers in the following cities; Abakaliki, Abuja, Akure, Asaba, Awka, Calabar, Enugu, Gombe, Ibadan, Jalingo, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Makurdi, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Yola, etc.

(vii) Participants commend the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Finance and all Stakeholders of the YouWiN connect programme for the brilliant initiative targeted at empowering young entrepreneurs of our dear country Nigeria.

(viii) Participants commend all resource persons used for all the trainings in all locations across the 6 geo political zones of the country.

(ix) Participants also commend the various Government officials, the YouWiN Connect representatives, who took out time to visit and ensure the smooth running of the trainings, addressed participants and responded to the questions raised during the interactive sessions. 

(x) Participants also highly commend all trainees who partook in the nationwide trainings for their high level of commitment, good conduct and active participation that led to the success of the 3–day training, all of whom solely bore the cost of transportation, hotel accommodation and other logistics. 

(xi) Participants observed with serious concern that the YouWiN connect programme had gone through different sequential stages of sensitization and awareness campaigns, to registration, application, selection, online training and face to face training, with promises that:  

a) All successful participants will receive certification on completion of the training and will be required to submit a business plan for areas where their businesses require improvements.

b)   All successfully funded businesses (start-up/existing) will receive a 1 year business development support (this includes introducing businesses to DFIs for further funding)

(xii) Participants observed that at the various stages of the application, selection and online training, several persons were dropped based on merit from the hundreds of thousands who applied.

(xiii) Participants also observed with disdain that there hasn't been a scheduled time table for the YouWiN connect programme.

(xiv)  Participants note with interest that at the awareness campaign held in various locations especially in July 2017, they were told that they could access as much as ₦10,000,000 to ₦25,000,000 each for their individual businesses. This was a great motivation for participation.

(xv) Participants bring to the attention of the government that the about 5000 successful persons who partook in Master Class, face to face training across the country were tagged WINNERS based on National, Regional and State merit after their performance at the Online Training YouWiN LMS with an average performance of over 90%.

(xvi) Participants note that all who attended the trainings nationwide came with the same mind and a lot of hope that they had scaled the hurdles of competition and are to be beneficiaries of the Federal Government Funding for their individual businesses.

(xvii) Participants also bring to the notice of the government and the general public that FUNDING is a major SETBACK for young entrepreneurs partaking in the YouWiN Connect programme.

(xviii) Participants were informed that only ₦2.5 billion was set aside for series funding.  Little and inadequate as this may be, participants are shocked that the said sum of money will also be used for Aquaculture and Shea nuts businesses and will be open to all, including those who never partook in the YouWIN connect processes, from the beginning, connoting that very few participants and other business sectors if any will be funded. Not to mention the information that came to their awareness, that little or no preference will be given to 5,000 acclaimed Winners.

(xix) Participants observed with concern that it is quite disheartening,  discouraging and highly deceptive to have made 5000 acclaimed Winners to leave their homes, families, businesses, solely bearing the cost of transportation, hotel accommodation and logistics for mere training and certification. One may ask what then have been won by the National, Regional and State acclaimed Winners?  What is going to be the benefit of all the sacrifices made so far? Of what benefit is business knowledge without capital to execute?

(xx) Participants wish to remind the government that the YouWiN Connect Programme can take the lead in empowering young entrepreneurs to plan, start and grow their businesses and become business moguls who will impart positively on the economy of Nigeria in the nearest future. This would lead to:
Job Creation leading to decline in the high unemployment rate,
Development of Young Entrepreneurs,
Better Economy as there would be REVENUE from TAXES, etc

(xxi) Participants wish to state confidently that no investment in young entrepreneurs will be too much as the massive positive impact cannot be overemphasized.

(xxii) Participants use this medium to appeal to the Federal Government not to dash the hopes of the Young Entrepreneurs by withholding funds to kick start their individual businesses. Instead, Government should make enough FUNDS available to all who attended the Master Training, of YouWiN Connect Programme, from the 5,000 National, Regional and State Winners in all locations of the training in Nigeria, as soon as their business plans are submitted. Doing otherwise may mean that government has no confidence in the quality of trainings (online and face to face) they offered to participants and this could be interpreted as manipulation and oppression of young entrepreneurs. The government should note that even if a percentage of the businesses of the 5,000 acclaimed WINNERS end up successful, the YouWiN Connect Programme will still be considered a huge success.

(xxiii) Participants wish to state that if funds are given to all the 5000 acclaimed winners, who have workable business plans, a level playing ground would be created for all to perform. All these young entrepreneurs could become the future Dangotes, Otedolas, Elumelus, etc and many other big names in business in Nigeria today.

(xxiv) Participants strongly support the idea of grants or equity funding for the sustainability of the YouWiN Connect Programme with transparency in the use of funds and close monitoring for the businesses of all would-be recipients of the proposed funds.

(xxv)  As earlier stated, participants reiterate that they believe in the YouWiN Connect Programme to take the lead in empowering Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs as done by other organizations like Shell LiveWire, Tony Elumelu Foundation who still fund young entrepreneurs till date.

(xxvi) Finally, to ensure that the vision of the YouWiN Connect Programme which is to successfully launch Young Entrepreneurs in Nigeria is achieved, for rapid socio-economic development and sustainability, Participants strongly recommend the continuity of the programme for the benefits of future generation of Nigerian Youth.

Signed:
All YouWiN Connect Master Class Participants,
Nigeria.

A one hour radio program Courtesy of YouWIN participants is to be aired tomorrow 26th March 2018 on AMINCI RADIO 103.9 FM Kano btw 10am-11am (live program) to discuss our plight about the YouWin Program. This is in line with our principle of not leaving any stone unturned.

Stay Tuned!

And millions of euros can be paid to book haram

Good day everyone

The programme to which we,( YouWiN connect participants) have been giving opportunity to speak about the present situated is coming up this *Saturday 31st March , 2018 10:30-11:30am* on a program titled ,
*"In Your Face"* on Crown101.5fm, Ile-Ife.

We can stream live from any location in Nigeria , on www.crownfmradio.com ,

there is an opportunity of a *phone in*
Phone number will be provided soon.

We need at least two persons who are very articulate , the person will still need to review the *Bill and Melinda Gate foundation review of the current administration's developmental priorities*
*The person must also be cerebral and very vast*


We need 10-20 persons from which , two will be put on mic to speak, while the rest be in the studio.


Pls we want to start preparation, this is an opportunity to let our plight known


Those indicating either to go or be among the two persons to speak should contact me privately.

Thanks.

Reserved

Reserved.

Reserved..

Following.