By Livinus Odes
Young business owners in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria have been urged to channel their efforts towards other productive ventures that will add value to their life and boost the economy of the region by looking beyond the Oil sector.
That was the climax of the third Niger-Delta Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Summit/Exhibition 2023 organized by an NGO, the Niger Delta Young Professional Platform as part of activities to marked the 2023 Int’l Youth Day on the theme: “Building The Culture of Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness Beyond Oil, that climaxed with presentation of Five Hundred Thousand (500) naira cheque each to three outstanding Young C.E.O’s from Akwa-Ibom and Cross River States.
Speaking at the event which was held at Four Points by Sharaton Hotels in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State on Saturday, August 12, with participants drawn across different business sectors and entrepreneurs from the region, the convener of the summit, Mr Moses Siasia, who expanded the essence of the summit to include building businesses, empowering the people and developing the region, posited that there’s need for young people in the region to rise up to transform the region by breaking barriers and limit and make their presence in the international space visible.
Moses Siasia stressed out the need for young professionals in the Niger Delta to be more aware of the current trend of global economic shift and assume the right position to fill in the gap by taking advantage of the opportunities embedded in the region through creativity, innovations and merchandise to build a better future themselves and the society.
This he said can be achieved by changing the narrative towards how live is seen as young business owners to a more dynamic view that is in tandem with the current realities of life beyond innovations, collaboration and access to fund to embracing mentorship, hard work, dedication and playing their role with the spirit of excellence.
” the young business owners must express be willing to play their role, you must be willing to take risk knowing that skills without character is leading to no success ,i charge you to rise above self entitlement mentality if you want to make the sky your limit by opening up to learning and renewed mindset”, he stated.
The keynote speaker at the Summit, Ebimoboere Enyiekpemi who is the CEO of Afritropic Farming and Agro Services Ltd in Delta State while giving insight on the theme of summit: Building The Culture Of Entrepreneurship Competitiveness Beyond Oil was of the opinion that there is so much to tap from the green economy in region by investing in Agriculture.
According to her, apart from Oil, the Niger Delta soil is capable of producing crops like Tomatoes, Onions, Pepper, Cucumber, Watermelon and other cash crops amongst other things.
She therefore called for awareness whereby the the young people need to have education and knowledge of the enterprise, investment, farming resource, and thinking of how to solve problem with passion, consistency/resiliency.
Putting herself for example, the young prolific farmer added that to be successful in this venture, the youth must be focus, visionary and goals driven for sustainability and profitability. “Niger Delta beyond oil is Agriculture and, there is so much within us that should be tap into to develop the region”, she enthused.
The summit which sole aim was to ignite the next generation through expanding entrepreneurial culture in the Niger Delta featured cultural display, panel discussion, interaction, exhibition and goodwill message from Presidential Amnesty Program among other presentations.
In a goodwill message, the directorate of commerce enterprise of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Obayemi Patrick used the fora to urged youth in the region to key into the project to able to benefit from the NDDC program through the Niger Delta Young Professional platform and the NDDC skills training program via www ndjobsskill.com as the oil is getting dried in the region.