Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday said that the N25billion Employment Trust Fund (ETF) set up by his administration has successfully empowered over 4000 small and medium scale businesses in the last two years as a means to boost the economy of the state.
Governor Ambode, who spoke when he received a delegation from Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a courtesy visit at the Lagos House in Ikeja, said deliberate efforts have been made by his administration to aid businesses and encourage budding entrepreneurs.
Alluding to the fact that the state boasts of a burgeoning population of youths, the governor said that driving entrepreneurship growth was a sure way to engage the youths meaningfully to enable them contribute their quota to the growth of the economy.
“There is no way under this economic recession that we have found ourselves that we can actually employ all the people under that age bracket. So the best thing is to create a framework that would allow them to dissipate their energy and creativity into the things that they would love to do.
“That’s why we set up the Employment Trust Fund with a budget of N25billion to be able to touch those younger ones that would not necessarily have the capital to recreate their skills and so far so good in the last two years we have done almost about 4000 entrepreneurs and we are doing more,” he said.
Ambode added that the setting up of the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment was in consonance with the ideals of the Legatum Center, assuring that his administration would do all it can to sustain the partnership beyond entrepreneurship.
Earlier, in her remarks, Executive Director, MIT, Mrs. Georgina Flatter, said the team was in Lagos to liaise with entrepreneurs in the state and build sustainable partnerships going forward.
She said the MIT team had spent the last few days touring eco systems and visiting entrepreneurs and ventures across Lagos, describing the experience so far as most inspiring.
