Business Skills for Women and Youth in Nigeria

The Business Skill Training for women and youths in Nigeria is a mobile business training designed to serve the unique needs of individuals at the base of the economic pyramid by igniting their entrepreneurial mindset, making them be agents of change, and supporting them to start a sustainable business such that they will have a reliable income stream long into their future.

The business training has been implemented in 9 communities in Nigeria.

The business training Impact.

99% (62 out of 63) of participants increased their income based on the data captured during the baseline coaching visit, Mid-coaching visits, Exit coaching visits, and Post program visits.

62 participants (99%) had a business at exit compared to 40 (64%)at baseline. participants(23%) had an income at baseline; this more than doubledto60(95%)at the exit visits. At the Post- Program visit, 62 Participants (99%) are still in business, and their income tripled compared to the data captured in the exit visit.

Of the 15 participants who had an income at baseline, their combined total income grew by300%.

Of 22participantswhodidnothaveanysourceofincomeatbaseline98%(62)had started a business with an income by the end of the 6 months of training.

Their average income per person grew from zero to 6000 naira per month at the end of the training and grew from 6000 to 30000naira per month 8 months after the program.

Links:

• Post Evaluation link

• SBS_COHORT_2_Evaluation.xlsx (XLSX)

The Business skills for women and youths was designed to serve the unique needs of individuals at the base of the economic pyramid by enabling them to be an agent of change, igniting their entrepreneurial mindset and supporting them to start a sustainable business venture such that they will have a reliable income stream long into their future.

This training provides a skilled foundation for participants to build a sustainable business, teaching work ethics and values through role model engagement and coaching. The project encourages under-employed, self-employed, and unemployed women and youth to enhance their economic self-reliance by promoting business start-ups from the acquired skills.

The project was rolled out in August 2019 across 6 communities (2 rural and 4 peri-urban) in Nigeria. The first phase ended after an initial 6 months of training and coaching visits. Of 97 initial recruits, 75 participants graduated from this phase of the project. Another Cohort was rolled out in August 2020 across 3 communities (1 rural and 2 peri-urban) in Nigeria. The first phase ended after an initial 6 months of training and coaching visits of 70 initial recruit, 62 graduated this phase of the project.

These selected communities are among the most disadvantaged/poor in the states and economic growth has stalled over the past few years. The level of youth unemployment, hunger, and poverty in the country is exacerbated by our stuttering economy which is yet to recover from the 2016 recession caused by the global slump in oil prices and has led to increased violence, extreme terrorism, and communal clashes.

The project was delivered in 4 stages:

1. Selection: The selection stage is to Identify impoverished “necessity entrepreneurs” who can take
advantage of this unique model, and to select community living in poverty. This stage of the project was verified based on the trainer’s reports, signed commitment form, letter of acceptance by the community, attendance booklet, funds spent, and monitoring by SI4DEV Operations Manager and Lead coaches.

2. Business Training: This involves practical, hands-on, and immediate relevant content for people living in poverty. It includes 8 modules:
i. Coming out of your comfort zone
ii. Business Opportunity Identification
iii. Finding capital and starting small
iv. Record keeping and Bookkeeping
v. Market research
vi. Business planning
vii. Growing your customer base
viii. Money management
This stage was verified by trainer’s reports, post-module quizzes, Participants' testimonials, post-module evaluations, coaching visits, attendance booklet, funds spent, and monitoring by SI4DEV Operations Manager and Master Trainers.

3. Coaching visits: Trainers visited participants three times at the beginning of the training, mid of the training, and at the end of the training to have one- one interaction with them and to capture their information for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

4. Graduation: A formal graduation was held to publicly recognize graduates, and to celebrate with them. It symbolizes participants becoming skilled, empowered and confident individuals who can economically sustain themselves and their families 62 Participants graduated from the Street Business School by SI4DEV Program in cohort 2.

Impact Summary

98% (62 out of 63) of participants increased their income based on the data captured during the baseline coaching visit, Mid-coaching visits, and Exit coaching visits.
62 participants (99%) had a business at exit compared to 40 (64%) at baseline. participants (23%) had an income at baseline; this more than doubled to 60 (95%) at the exit visits.
Of the 15 participants who had an income at baseline, their combined total income grew by 99%.
Of 22 participants who did not have any source of income at baseline 98% (62) had started a business with an income by the end of the 6 months of training. Their average income per person grew from zero to 6000 naira per month at the end of the training.

Thank you.

• Business Training Impact Report (PDF)