N25bn ETF: Lagos empowers 4,000 entrepreneurs — Ambode

lagos—In order to boost Lagos state Gross Domestic Product, GDP, the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has disclosed that N25 billion Employment Trust Fund, ETF, set up by his administration has successfully empowered over 4,000 small and medium scale businesses.
Ambode said that driving entrepreneurship growth was strategy to engage youths meaningfully with the aim to enable them contribute their quota to growth of the economy.

The world class Ikeja Bus Terminal in Lagos State capital
The governor gave the statistics yesterday when a delegation from Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) paid him a courtesy visit at the State House, Alausa secretariat, Ikeja.

He argued: “There is no way under this economic recession that we have found ourselves that we can actually employ all the people under that age bracket. So the est thing is to create a framework that would allow them to dissipate their energy and creativity into the things that they would love to do.

“That’s why we set up the Employment Trust Fund with a budget of N25 billion to be able to touch those younger ones that would not necessarily have the capital to recreate their skills and so far so good in the last two years we have done almost about 4000 entrepreneurs and we are doing more,” he said.

Earlier, in her remarks, Executive Director, MIT, Mrs. Georgina Flatter said the team was in Lagos to liaise with entrepreneurs in the State and build sustainable partnerships going forward.

She said the MIT team had spent the last few days touring eco systems and visiting entrepreneurs and ventures across Lagos, describing the experience so far as most inspiring.