AfDB To Establish Youth Entrepreneurship Banks Across Nigeria

The African Development Bank's (AfDB) president, Akinwumi Adesina, addressing the press on Sunday, June 25th, 2023 revealed that his organization is prepared to launch an entrepreneurship investment bank in Nigeria. According to the AfDB president, the establishment of such a bank is in line with President Bola Tinubu's goals and vision for Nigeria's youth. 

Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina spoke after paying a courtesy visit to President Tinubu, who was also in attendance at the just concluded new global financial accord summit in France's Palais Brongniart. He expressed his admiration for the president's intentions and vision for Nigeria and promised to support the government in achieving its objectives.

In his words:

“I discussed with his excellency, the President a couple of things. First of course is agriculture; to see what we can do to support the government concerning the president’s vision in agriculture.”

“We discussed the special agro-industrial processing zone for which we already have about $520 million for Nigeria and how we are going to make sure that the project gets accelerated to give quick wins to the president. We also talked about the power sector and how we will support his effort and vision."

Mr. Adesina Continued:

”The president wants to make sure there is an improvement in the access to electricity in Nigeria, and therefore, he talked to us about how we can support him and we assured him that we will support significantly in the power sector in Nigeria.”

Adesina also praised President Bola Tinubu for wanting to impact Nigeria's manufacturing sector with major reforms.

He added:

“I discussed with the president also about the industrial sector in Nigeria. I was impressed with his vision in terms of trying to grow the industrial sector in Nigeria and also having an export-orientated industrial manufacturing stance, which is very important for growing the forex in Nigeria.”

“We also discussed the youth. I have heard him speak quite a lot about young people — his heart for young people and what he wants to support them."

“He asked for our support regarding what we can do about that and I explained to the president that we will support him with the establishment of a youth entrepreneurship investment bank in Nigeria."

“This is going to be new financial institutions that will support the access to financing for the business of young people. He had the desire to grow the wealth for young people which is very good.”

What Are The Benefits Of The AfDB Youth Entrepreneurship Banks in Nigeria

The benefits of the banks being established in Nigeria are listed below:

• It will increase youth employment
• Increase in access to finance and business survival of youth and women-led start-ups and micro, small, and medium enterprises;
• Creating enabling environments for micro, small, and medium enterprise development and youth employment;
• It will improve the design of Bank projects that have enhanced potential for youth employment.

The AfDB youth entrepreneurship bank is a brainchild of the youth entrepreneurship and innovation multi-donor trust fund. 

About The Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund

It was established in 2017 with the sole aim of harnessing the power of youth through entrepreneurship and job creation. The fund hopes to support Africa's entrepreneurship ecosystems to support the creation of long-term jobs for young Africans by providing micro, small, and medium-sized entrepreneurs with the knowledge, resources, and supportive environments they need to operate bankable firms. By doing this, the Trust Fund supports the Highi 5 strategic initiatives of the African Development Bank.

The Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation will help the Bank's Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy to succeed. By 2025, the initiative hopes to create 25 million new jobs and give 50 million young people the skills they need to succeed as entrepreneurs. The Human Capital, Youth, and Skills Development Department of the Bank administers the Fund, which brings together partners and donors to capitalize on the Bank's prior success in promoting youth employment across the continent. Norway and Denmark made the first donations in 2017. The Fund now has close to $40 million after welcoming the governments of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Italy as new donors in 2018. The first investment horizon of the Fund is from 2017 to 2025.

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