 Welcome back. Project Work Skills is an employability program designed by AGO Foundation to equip undergraduate, interstitial institutions across Nigeria with workplace readiness skills and basic digital skills. The project addresses United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring students receive their needed education to enable them to secure decent jobs, thereby ensuring economic growth post-graduation. The project is targeted at final year students as well as students in India, penultivated their interstitial institutions all over the country. So right now I have the executive director of the Foundation, Tolu Washi Olami, joining me right now to discuss further. Good morning to you, Tolu. Many thanks for joining us on Business Insights. Good morning, Justin. Thank you for having me. Yeah. In my intro, I said over 70% of a Nigerian population falls below the age of 30. It is really very interesting to understand that we have such population and yet we are not actually optimizing it because the issue of youth unemployment is rising by the day. How do you react? I mean, thank you Justin. And this is one big, I mean, I would say pandemic. So to say, I mean, it's hitting us real hard. And this is largely because like I've always said, we have left the onions or we have left the duty of job creation and job promotion to the government alone, right? Meanwhile, the private sector employs a lot more than the government. But us living into the government means that we expect the government to be able to, so we're not looking in the right direction, right? We're not building skills that fits what the private sector requires, right? So which is what the misfit and what has caused the imbalance that we've experienced over time, right? Oh yes, there's job shortage due to economic issues, but I mean, it can be better. And I think in the days ahead, it will be better. Okay, because what you said right now is that these young people graduate from schools, yet they don't have the set skills that are required to helping them get employed? Yes, yes. So bigger than unemployment, I mean, or one of the main costs of unemployment is unemploymentability, right? Talent's not matching the required, the required requisite to be able to get into the job. So it is difficult for these employers to absorb these people because you don't fit into what we want, right? Employers measure productivity, right? How well are you able to do this job productively? Remember that the essence of us creating or starting a business in the first place is profit, right? What does your skill, would you be able to match up to this, right? But a lot of people lack all of that. I mean, and skills like critical thinking, problem solving, right? People would say, when I get there, they would teach me, right? Oh yes, when you get there, they teach you. But unfortunately, a lot of people still just do just what they have taught them and not add a bit of initiative to it. A lot of people lack communication skill. In fact, I know companies that have gone down because of lack of communication, I mean, amongst its members. So these employability skills are really, really tough. I mean, I've made it really tough for young stars to get into the workplace, which has created the white gap. So we've tried to hire for a few people a few times. I realize that people would say, don't worry. All the people have interviewed. I can't find anyone. I would increase the salary of people who are in at the moment. Give them more tasks to do. I give them more tasks to do instead of bringing in more people. So you see that people in organizations are being overworked and there are people outside who don't find jobs. Okay. I once intended one of your employability project skills in the University of Lagos. I noticed that you actually had to take this campaign to campus as it is. Why is it important that the syllables or maybe the curriculum of tertiary institutions should be maybe revamped but say so that young people would actually have this requisite skills that we are talking about. Okay. I mean, so thanks, Justin. So this, I think, sits largely with the government and the bodies, right? I hear that the curriculum have been updated, right, so certain level. Again, the question would ask is, do we have the right tools to work around the implementation of this new curriculum, right? Because mind you, this new curriculum would not just have to do with employability, right? It has to do across board. So for the guys in communication, then use of smart boards and all of that now. So do we have like the required tools to be able to carry on this new curriculum? Now, what a lot of schools have now done, like I mean so many schools have done it, is to now infuse a center for entrepreneurship or infuse entrepreneurship into the curriculum, right? So how do we now deliver on this to say, oh, you're not bringing entrepreneurship. What we now just do at entrepreneurship is just training them how to start business and run business, right? Are we teaching them how to have conversation with customers, right? Knowing that customer is king. Now, this is communication skill, right? Oh, yes. So bring your idea. First, how do people even come up with ideas? Critical thinking, problem solving, you see a problem. How do you identify problems? So all of this, right? I think that the best model, instead of saying, oh, revamp the curriculum would be to partner with the private sector and bring in the private sector guys to take real life kiss around entrepreneurship, around business and around work, right? Bring in the private sector, have them tell these people, tell the students what they will be facing when they come out there. And I mean, I think it will solve the problem a whole lot. I'm not sure it's certainly a curriculum issue when it comes to around employability. I think it's a firm synergy between the workplace and the academic place, right? The academia and the workplace. Having a solid handshake will then, so you bring in people who have succeeded in the workplace and say, okay, so I mean, bring in HRs and say, oh, come, tell our students what they will be facing when they go out there. How will they cross this hurdle? How do they attend interviews, right? I mean, so you can imagine someone who didn't do presentation in university, and you ask them to come and tell the interviews. People mess up a lot of times, right? An interview. So we need to be able to have that handshake, I mean, and even beyond the curriculum. Okay. So Eva, I have to put it differently. Are you saying that youth entrepreneurship is the panacea to the issue of the unemployment issues that we have in the country right now? Oh, yes. So I mean, youth entrepreneurship is one solid one. Now, you see what you see that there is an opera in the number of young people that have that moved into the labor market, right? Now, a large number of students start their businesses while they are in the university. Okay, true. Right. How do we then support the students to be able to take these businesses forward such that they are able to hire people from their classes? Now, so you can imagine a class of 300, right? We have 20 entrepreneurs who now hire two, two people from their class to join them on this business. So it means that we have about 60 people from that class who already have jobs and they can push that and that can move forward. So we're just having to deal about 240 people, right? And then other people can then absorb them as it is, right? So youth entrepreneurship is a solid way to work around the, I mean, unemployment scourge that we think, I mean, we're currently facing. Okay, well said now. But if you look at it over the years, the government has come out with different sort of plans and policies to help tackle the issue of unemployment. There was you weighing those empire, there are a whole lot of them, but most of the times they were never really workable. And, you know, so what would you really say has really gone wrong? And what more should the government been doing in ensuring that youths actually make the most of entrepreneurship development and also be their own bosses? Oh, okay. Yes. So we play politics with this conversation, right? And that's to be able to win the interest of young people from time to time. And we just play politics with those things. So there's been several initiatives and I would not hit any government hard for bringing out another initiative after the previous one. But what I would always ask and what I've always asked the government would always do is to do a proper M&E, an evaluation of the previous project and see where it did not went wrong, where it did not succeed, where it went wrong, what happened and then build on the lessons learned from the last one. Now, one of the least things that a business needs to survive is money. True. Right. So from all of what we've seen around what the government have designed over time is looking for ways to move money and just, oh, putting money, right, which is very, very, which is very, very sad. If we can actually be truthful with this model, help these people, and that's why entrepreneurship in university is very, very important. Not just in university, in tertiary institution is very important. So from when you're in school, you understand structure, you understand business processes. In fact, as you're going on interviews to go talk to an employer, you already understand that I am a potential employer. I know what the employer is looking out for and I'm seeing what the employer is looking out for. Right. So that solves the big problem of having issues that are having programs that are not successful. Do a total M&E work with institutions around entrepreneurship. How would you be able to do this, this? How can you move your business from this point to this point? Oh, you sell, you sell cakes, cupcakes in your hostels. How can it become a large confectionary store? Work with students around all of this. Then once you've seen a quite a gain traction, put money in the hands of people whose business have been successful, right? Let there be a reinvestment and a refunding model to say, oh, if you do well, you can come back, right? Those models work. Not just one off model, like the matches, the bonds off and you throw the matchstick away. Let there be a reinvestment model. Let people see that, oh, you're interested in them. Now that we just put you in, people apply to 2 million, you give all of them to 2 million. Most of you are just going to buy cars. Some of you just go rent houses. Some of you just go live life with the money. Nobody would ask me. And indeed, nobody would ask. Let there be a penalty for you wasting taxpayer money, right? Let there be a penalty for you wasting taxpayer money. I mean, also because we don't have data in this country. So you don't know who has collected it before. Who is coming back to collect it? So we just keep pushing it out there. Well, yes, I mean, I think that government trying to do this is a really amazing one. But they are consulting companies that can be partnered with to do a proper M&E and do a proper process management around the programs. All right. It is still a business insight and plus TV Africa. My guest is said to Luwashi Olania. We are looking at the issue of tackling news unemployment through entrepreneurship. But he's still with me. We'll take a quick break. We'll come back and talk more about what youth can do to actually better their lot in terms of moving up skill in their businesses. And again, there is something for my dream. It's some sort of exchange program that is in the works. So we'll talk about all of that when we return from this quick break to join us again. All right. Welcome back. It's still business insight and plus TV Africa. We're looking at entrepreneurship development on the show this morning. And Luwashi Olania is my guest. Thanks for staying with me. Thank you so much. All right. You talked about the issue of funding, which is like the bane of most people or startups, people who just want to be their own boss. But haven't gotten funded. What would you advise them to do in the first most times that we hear that small business is filled in the first five years? What would you advise them to do to actually stay in business? Okay. I mean, so, so a few times that like I said to young people, the life of the organization is a young is other people who work in your organization. I mean, so you don't have anybody working in your organization. You don't have an organization in the first place is to invest and build the same and build invest in the human capital of the organization, right? Find the right team that works and ensure that this team building a sustainable culture, right? So people do what they should do. There's a process, right? You continue this process. You fine tune this process. It becomes better that you've built a system. You built an organization. And then if you put money, the money won't waste at that time, right? If you put money, the money won't waste. And that's like the very first thing and show that you build a solid structure. You build a solid system that can take the company another 10 years. Okay, fine. That's a very good one. In our pre-chat just before we got on the studio here, you were talking about a program designed for young people. They could have some sort of exchange with the Western world and tell us about it and how people can actually benefit from this. You tell me that it is free? Well, yes. So we've just partnered with, I mean, so Ego Foundation, I just partnered with Queens University, I mean, in Canada. And the program is to open up young people, particularly students, to entrepreneurship opportunities. So we have a curriculum, you walk through the curriculum. I mean, successful candidates, people who work through curriculum stand at a chance of getting a whole lot of potential extract programs and potential funding from the program. It is absolutely free, right? But then it's open to students. And like I said earlier, we are looking off of the best ways to create opportunities for young people to be able to gather as much knowledge. I mean, knowledge is power, right? So once you have knowledge, then you can do a whole lot, right? To be able to get knowledge. So Queens University has opened up the curriculum to us in this partnership. And we were looking out for people, young people, as much as possible, apply for this. So anybody can just apply? As long as there are students? As long as there are students, oh, you can apply. I mean, you're an entrepreneur, walk through the curriculum. I mean, at the tail end of it, there's a pitch. You can get to pitch your businesses. I mean, you can also, I mean, start at the chance of like getting into an exchange program where you do like the second phase of the program. But I mean, it's a really, really robust program. So everything is done online? Everything is done online. And I'm hopeful that, I mean, once in a month, we have like card jobs where we like, I mean, have that conversation, like engagement session with participants to be able to ask questions, get feedback and all of that. It's a really, really robust, I mean, program that we're hopeful that young people can actually take advantage of this and we can like use this for national growth. Okay. So young people, there is an opportunity for you to actually make the most of it. It is absolutely free. You can get to have an exchange program. It says Queens University, you call it? Yes. Okay. So there's a whole lot and you can also pitch your business and who knows just where you might get the necessary support that you need to obscure your business. But just before we go, the last thing, last word from you, for someone who is actually a businessman, a young person. And because of government's policies, issues of stability or instability as per today, there is a policy tomorrow it's been removed. And right now they are having issues in staying in business and they don't know where to turn to. What would your advice be for the person who is struggling in business? Okay. I mean, so first, at this time, globally, you are struggling in business. Everyone is, yes. In Nigeria, we are struggling in business. So, I mean, that's what I like to note. And what I said to people over time, particularly around this economy, is to keep your costs low, keep the business active, but keep your costs low, right? And then, so what we've seen over time is that the ground level up at the end of the day. So you see that you're unable to purchase this. Somehow, somehow the ground, because we've seen that over the last eight years, too. Yes, some companies have closed up. Some have a lot of pivoted, but then you can only pivot into, I make chain chain before, but now I'm now making kicks, right? Or I'm now making plantain chips, because flour importation is a lot more expensive, so I'm unable to make chain chain. But then for plantain chips, right? Plantain is readily available. So it's about the same, right? So keep your costs low, look out for the best way to pivot your business, or to move your business into all that spaces and all that segment. But basically, keep your costs low, like at this time, I would advise that. Also, because recession is a hit in the world, people are heavy, I mean, people now have lesser purchasing power, right? So, but keep your costs low. Most likely you will be able to service a lot more people over time, and then see how business can scale. Thank you so much, the Lord, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me. All right, as we go on the show to tackle the spate of youth unemployment, a group, enterprise growth, and opportunities, AGO Foundation has trained university students on the requisite skills they need to be employable. Rising from its project work skills at the University of Lagos, the organizer, Tolua Sholaneo, says the program will prepare participants for the world of entrepreneurship. I'll leave you with details in this report. I am Justin Akadone, I'll see you again next time. Bye for now. The nation's higher educational institutions equip graduates with hard skills, while neglecting their development of employability skills, which are core for transitioning into the labor market, as well as for workplace productivity. The lack of these skills in graduates keeps them in the pool of the unemployed, no matter their degree of certification. Now, Executive Director AGO Foundation, Tolua Sholaneo, says this project aims to equip participants with the right skillset for employment, and also prepare them for the world of entrepreneurship. A good number of young people are currently not employable, and this is because they lack the basic skills like critical thinking, problem solving, those skills that can help them perform in the labor market, so employers are not getting what they want from them. Unfortunately, they're able to employ them. After the flag of this project was setting up mentoring and coaching centers across different institutions, where students are able to speak to coaches and are able to have continuous career development sessions so that it doesn't just end here. One of the unique aspects of this training is to provide access to jobs for selected participants and also expose them to the realities of the workplace. Employability is an important part of our economic growth, because when the people of the nation or the society are employed, productivity is increased as a company, I mean as a country, and the GDP of the country also tries on productivity. A way forward is for people to actually consider a lot of capacity building trainings. The four walls of an academic institution is not going to provide all the kind of knowledge and skills you need. You have to self-develop, self-train yourself through different taking parts in trainings, capacity building and the like. There are several causes of graduate unemployment in Nigeria, including an inelastic labor market to absorb the turnover some of the participants share their thoughts. Still by skill acquisition, because most of the like most companies now I don't know put that English like they don't really want to employ more because technology is really taking over over lots of jobs now. With the help of writing a good CV because majority of us I think the reason why we are not seeing good jobs is because of not like you can't write good CVs. So with this program now so they are teaching us how to write good CVs on how to get good jobs. Another way to address the challenge of employability skill induced employment is to incorporate the learning of these skills in the curriculum of higher education.