Uche Henry
Wennovation Hub, a foremost promoter of entrepreneurship, has inaugurated an Acceleration Space in Lagos for young people with feasible and viable business ideas who are looking for opportunities to showcase their potential for investors to bankroll their ventures.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos recently, Executive Director and Co-founder of Wennovation Hub, Wole Odetayo, explained that the organisation was out to tackle the problems of unemployment, under-employment and brain drain through its entrepreneurship support programmes.
“Many people have bankable business ideas but lack the wherewithal and other support, especially favourable environment, to do their business ventures. This is the cause of youth restiveness and social ills,” he said. He, however, affirmed that Wennovation Hub, under the aegis of the parent company, Lofty Allied Partners Inc, has two support programmes for businesses under incubation stage and acceleration for ongoing ventures to scale up their businesses.
“We give young people free opportunities to showcase their potential and support them accordingly. We have been doing this since 2011 in Ibadan, Kaduna and Abuja and our support system cuts across agriculture, healthcare, education, energy and social infrastructure.
“We are doing this to help create values, so we expect entrepreneurs to knock on our finishing hubs and get free support, except for equity investment,” he stressed. Fielding questions from start-ups, former Head, Bureau for Public Sector Reform, Joe Abah, charged youths to engage in useful ventures for self-reliance since the structure of the country does not favour them. “Youths must see the hard times as a galvaniser to spark off their potential to do exploits,” he charged. He tasked them to take advantage of offerings from Wennovation Hub and other investors. “Our socio-economic systems are damaged and seems irredeemable. I charge you to hone your skills and put into practice what you have; definitely you will get support from investors,” he added.