Business

GE partners NYSC on entrepreneurial skills acquisition for corpers

Published

8 years ago

February 27, 2018

GE, world’s premier digital industrial company has announced a partnership with the National Youth Service Corps to empower Youth Corps members with valuable entrepreneurial skills in line with its commitment to skills development in Nigeria.

The initiative, known as the Start & Improve Your Business (SIYB) training programme, is based on the curriculum of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and will see thousands of youth corps members receive critical entrepreneurial training.

Speaking when he led a team on a courtesy visit to the Director General of the NYSC in Abuja on Monday, Managing Director of GE Gas Power Systems in Nigeria, Mohammed Mijindadi, explained that the initiative was one of the many ways GE is supporting skills development in Nigeria.

“We are committed to the sustainable development of Africa and Nigeria in particular, and as such we invest in skills development initiatives that empower people with valuable skills, equip communities with new tools and technology and elevate ideas that are helping to solve Africa’s challenges,” Mijindadi said.

Giving more insights, he explained that the program works using a Train the Trainer approach where NYSC personnel and facilitators are trained utilizing an international curriculum benchmarked to global standards. Following that, the facilitators are supported to execute training programs for all youth corps members across the country.

Speaking on the partnership, Roti Balogun, Chief Talent and Skills Development Leader for GE Africa and Corporate Champion for the Nigerian Economic Summit Group Human Capital Development commission added “We are pleased to lead a private sector response to some of our commitments from the recently concluded NES23 summit on skills, competencies and capacity building with a focused strategy on faculty development in Nigeria. We remain committed to entrepreneurial leadership development across the continent with programs such as the SIYB.”

Responding, Brigadier-General Kazaure commended the partnership with GE stating that the SIYB program is aligned and complimentary to the NYSC’s efforts in setting up skill acquisition centers in the country’s six geo-political zones. He expressed interest in continuing to partner with GE to build capacity and encouraged other private sector players to look for similar ways to support the agency.

The SIYB program initiative is part of GE’s commitment to skills development in Nigeria in support of the Federal Government’s job creation objectives.