The Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Waheed Olagunju, has urged young entrepreneurs to leverage available financing in the global system to grow their businesses.

Olagunju made the call on Wednesday in Lagos during a panel discussion by Enactus Nigeria Innovation Summit, themed “The impact of entrepreneurship on the development and sustenance of an emerging economy.”

The Innovation Summit is a forum created to inspire hope and equip young Nigerian innovators with the right tools to develop ideas.
Olagunju said that the global financing system had more funds in circulation than the demand for the local funds.

“Finance is one of the factors of production but not difficult to get because money will always go after good products.

“There are human needs that can be met in our environment and it takes innovative entrepreneurs to identify and tap into such opportunities for development.

“We are a country of about 180 million people but technology opens up the global market as we have the whole world as a potential market.”

Olagunju said that the N2 billion Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund was a platform that could be explored because it encouraged young graduates with innovative ideas to be entrepreneurs instead of job seekers.

He stressed that students should view entrepreneurship as a career path and not an alternative because jobs were difficult to come by.

According to him, the population strength and natural resources endowment in the 774 local government areas of the country can be exploited for development purposes.

He said that the bank had demystified financing for SMEs by engaging the service of 122 Business Development Services Providers (BDSP) to support and nurture them to success.

Also speaking, Managing Director, Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, said that the youth had the ability for the country to either succeed or fail as a nation on a global scale.

Cole said that entrepreneurs were in a world of endless possibilities with the key to explore and make a difference in a dynamic world.

He said that his organisation had an online platform targeted at mentoring 14 million youths and their ideas within the next two years.

Chief Executive Officer, No Leftover Ltd., Mrs Ayodeji Megbope, urged young entrepreneurs to package their products such that it appealed to their target customers.

“Funding is not a problem because I started my business with a seed capital of N1,000. I chose to believe in myself regardless of the challenges around me.

“I have learnt that if you have a good product with right packaging, people will gravitate towards you. Be humble, start small and grow big and people will celebrate your success story,” she said.

Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Dr Peter Bamkole, said that there were several financing platforms available for youths to grow their businesses.

“There are various grants and scholarship opportunities that can be explored by youths as an alternative financing channel.