8th October, 2017
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government on Saturday said it will continue to seek for investors to support young entrepreneurs of the Ready Set Work (RSW) programme which involves inculcating entrepreneurial skills on final year students in six tertiary institutions in the state.
The 2017 RSW involves 2,000 final year students who were trained for 13 weeks with various entrepreneurial and other skills to make them employable or be able to be self-employed.
Speaking at the Business Pitch competition, in which about 23 young entrepreneurs presented their business models, Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Wale Oluwo said the government was impressed with the business ideas of the students and that government would seek investors to buy-in into what the young entrepreneurs had to offer.
He said unlike last year, people were now more prepared for the Pitch competition, but lamented that most presentations were not meeting up to standard.
“Government will continue this process of getting investors to support the young adults and add values to make them better. There is no short cut to wealth, we want to ensure that the projects these students were exhibiting satisfy a need,” he said.
Permanent Secretary, Office of Special Adviser on Education, Dr. Shamsideen Allison said the government was satisfied with the performance of the students during the Pitch competition, saying that the dream of the government in setting up the RSW programme to make students come up with good business ideas had come to reality.
He said the successful students at the Pitch competition would be assisted by government to develop their business ideas, adding that six institutions were involved in the RSW programme.
Allison stated that 500 final year students took part in last year’s RSW programme while 2,000 students participated in this year’s programme, assuring that the programme would be sustained by government.
He added that the winner of the Pitch competition would get a prize of N1 million, saying that government might consider reviewing the money upward in the future.
Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun said the intention of setting up the RSW by the state government was being met with the skills and business acumen displayed by the students at the Pitch competition.
He said the programme had really inculcated in the youths entrepreneurial skills and enabled them to think outside the box, adding that the judges looking into the projects of the students would examine the prospects of the project, how innovative, sustainable and income-generating the project is.
“The idea is to look at the content of the project and what can be sold to investors. We are also looking at the interest the project will stimulate among the investors,” he said.
However, the winner of the Pitch competition would be announced at a later date by the organisers of the RSW.