International Breweries Plc has, through its foundation, given out grants totalling N60m to 50 young entrepreneurs across Nigeria.
The Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, at the sixth edition of a youth enterprise empowerment scheme in Lagos, called on stakeholders to promote peace in the country.
He said, “All these intervention measures are to help productively engage our youths. We should endeavour to promote the peace and unity of Nigeria, as economic activities cannot thrive in an atmosphere of chaos and violence.
“I encourage you to stand your ground and shun all negative tendencies that can threaten the very fabrics of our corporate existence. Finally, I commend International Breweries Plc, for the exemplary initiatives. I call on every stakeholder to join this venture that would make our youths entrepreneurs and job creators.”
In his welcome address, the Managing Director, International Breweries Plc, Hugo Rocha said, “For us, the Kickstart initiative is an avenue to bridge the unemployment gap by giving life to the dreams and aspirations of millions of bright and enterprising young people across Nigeria.
“In the past six years, our foundation has awarded close to N400m grants to about 800 beneficiaries and trained close to 1,200 youths on entrepreneurship skills.”
The Principal Consultant, AD Consulting, and keynote speaker at the event, Mrs Olajumoke Adenowo, said, “What I see here is that we have looked at a problem and decided to fix that problem and not just turn and abandon it.
“We need more initiatives like this that provide jobs for the youths, and other companies need to borrow a leaf from International Breweries Plc.”
The Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Yetunde Arobieke, lauded Kickstart’s commitment to empowering tomorrow’s business leaders.
She said, “Kickstart initiative is countering the propensity for the youths to engage in criminal activities. Today, we have a lot of young men and women who are into advanced fee fraud and other unwholesome activities.
“That is why I am impressed to see young people participating in Kickstart, owning their own business in their drive to be law-abiding citizens and leaders of tomorrow.”
