The Edojobs Entrepreneurship Development Unit has trained young entrepreneurs in Edo State on business networking to enable them to gain access to internal and external funding opportunities, market expansion programmes, capacity building, business advisory services, and business mentorship.
Dignitaries that attended the event include Segun Majekodunmi, head of entrepreneurship development; Whyte Isimeme, CEO of Genius Hub and Africa’s top 50 ‘’MSME’’ founder; Ukinebo Dare from Mastercard, many young entrepreneurs, among others.
The chairperson of the occasion, Ukinebo Dare, said the event was organised to share experiences with younger entrepreneurs, and encourage business owners.
She said: ‘’Fear comes because you are afraid of failing. Just make sure you have reduced your chances of failing; business owners should be resilient and their businesses should have legal structures, ‘’ Dare said.
The Edojobs Business Networking Series is a quarterly event held solely to provide support to business owners in and across Edo State. Business networking entails the sharing of ideas, collaborating with other entrepreneurs, and meeting with other brands to improve, develop, and expand one’s business.
During the programme, a lot of entrepreneurs who attended the previous networking series shared testimonies of how they have improved their businesses through various seminars organised by the body.
Priscilla Joy, a food distributor, talked about how the programme helped her business grow.
She said: “The seminars, classes, and training programmes have helped me, as I can now write a business plan, do proper networking, and also help in advertising my new products to the market.”
Ugo Micheal, CEO of Foodkeep Enterprise and a student, also said, “The seminars have given me vital knowledge in growing my business’’
Meanwhile, there was a brain teaser question when the audience was asked to guess the identity of the second guess speaker whose profile was not announced to the audience. Whyte Isimeme promised the winners financial rewards.
A business entrepreneur from Uromi, Edo State, Patience Okosun emerged the winner of the teaser question after the second guest was revealed to be the chair of the board of EdoJobs, Ukinebo Dare.
Meanwhile, another entrepreneur, Florence Ehi, earned an airtime of N20,000 from the guest speaker, and she was rewarded for attempting the brain teaser question. The winners were announced by Whyte Isimeme.
The audience was later introduced to a session called “The Networking Session,” which created a friendly environment for all the entrepreneurs to interact with each other. They availed themselves of the opportunity to advertise their products, goods and services.
The audience also watched a movie titled ‘’Joy. The movie featured a young, divorced female entrepreneur and her experience through her journey before becoming a successful business owner in the country.
“Be hungry and don’t be ashamed to market your product. Don’t be afraid to sell, as you are the best person to advertise your product to the market. Attending training and seminars, ‘’ Isimeme said.
The chairperson of the occasion, Dare Ukinebo, rounded off the event with the announcement of the 20 finalists who qualified for the first quarter scorecard challenge and she awarded the top three winners with N500,000 each. The sum of 50,000 naira was also given to the top 20 nominees who were present at the event.
