The federal government is set to further empower more Nigerian youths with startup kits for their business through the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) initiative.

Mary Kolawale, SMEDAN’s FCT coordinator of the National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI), said this during the NBSDI Empowerment Programme on Monday in Abuja.

According to Ms Kolawale, the empowerment programme aims to empower MEMEs who have acquired one skill or another but have been finding it difficult to get equipment to start up their businesses.

She said the annual programme aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ to enable unemployed youths to be their own bosses.

“The essence of this programme is to train them, give them skills and empower them. We know it is one thing to give them entrepreneurial training and another for them to turn it into wealth.

“So at the end of the day, we will give them a startup kit that they will be using to either start up or boost their already existing businesses.

“And after three months, we will locate them to assess how they are doing and to guide them wherever they are having business challenges,” she said.

(NAN)