Unity Bank empowers 400 graduates, invests N100m in entrepreneurship

No fewer than 400 fresh graduates have benefited from Unity Bank’s entrepreneurship development initiative, also known as Corpreneurship Challenge, over the past five years.

Unity Bank made this known via a statement on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, noting that the initiative reflected the bank’s commitment to driving economic growth by supporting the next generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs.

Launched in 2019 with pilots in Lagos, Edo, Ogun States, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and scaled to 10 States in 2020, the Corpreneurship Challenge initiative, according to the bank, is promoted in partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED).

The initiative features a business pitch presentation where participants, who are mostly fresh graduates participating in the one-year compulsory NYSC service, get the opportunity to present their business plans and stand a chance to win business grants.

Unity Bank recently increased the prize money to N16 million per stream, allowing participants who emerge winners in the business pitch to win N800,000, N500,000, and N300,000 Business grants for the first, second, and third positions, respectively, as against the previous editions in which the sum of N500,000, N300,000, and N200,000 were handed out to respective winners in the Corpreneurship Challenge.

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Speaking on the impact of the initiative, the Divisional Head of Digital Banking and Fintech Partnerships at Unity Bank, Olufunwa Akinmade, said: “The Corpreneurship Challenge has proved to be a viable enterprise development and empowerment initiative due its high level of success in supporting budding entrepreneurs in the target demographic, as well as the size of the problem it is designed to solve for the Nigerian economy.”

Olufunwa expressed satisfaction with Corpreneurship Challenge’s rising profile as one of the leading sector-agnostic business incubators in Nigeria, adding that the bank is committed to sustaining the programme to attain greater impact required to boost job creation, with young entrepreneurs leading the charge.

Also speaking, the Divisional Head of Retail and SME Banking, Adenike Ambimbola said: “We have seen the positive impact of the Corpreneurship Challenge over the past five years because of its innovative approach to youth empowerment and job creation, including a holistic strategy of supporting budding entrepreneurs with mentorship, and skills development, besides the financial backing.”

The Star