Unity Bank empowers 400 new University graduates, invests over N100 Million in corpreneurhip challenge

For the past five years, Unity Bank’s business development programme, also called the business Challenge, has helped more than 400 recent university graduates. This shows that the Bank is dedicated to boosting the economy by helping the next generation of Nigerian business owners.

The Corpreneurship Challenge programme was started in 2019 with pilots in Lagos, Edo, Ogun, and Abuja. It will be expanded to 10 states by 2020. The programme is a combination between the NYSC and SAED (Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development). A business pitch performance is part of the project. Participants, who are mostly recent university graduates doing their one-year mandatory NYSC service, can show off their business ideas and compete to win business grants.

The Bank recently raised the prize money to 16 million Naira per stream. This means that the winners of the business pitch will each receive N800,000, N500,000, or N300,000 in business grants, respectively. In previous editions, the winners of the Corpreneurship Challenge were each given N500,000, N300,000, or N200,000.

Reflecting on the impact of the initiative, Mr. Olufunwa Akinmade, The Divisional Head, Digital Banking and Fintech Partnerships, at Unity Bank, who led the pioneer team that designed the initiative and launched the pilot, said:

“The Corpreneurship Challenge has proved to be a viable enterprise development and empowerment initiative due its high-level of success in supporting budding entrepreneurs in the target demographic, as well as the size of the problem it is designed to solve for the Nigerian economy”.

Olufunwa was happy that Corpreneurship Challenge was becoming known as one of the best business incubators in Nigeria that doesn’t focus on a certain industry. He also said that the Bank was committed to continuing the programme to have even more of an impact on creating jobs, with young entrepreneurs leading the way.

Also speaking, the Divisional Head of Retail and SME Banking, Mrs. Adenike Ambimbola said, “We have seen the positive impact of the Corpreneurship Challenge over the past five years because of its innovative approach to youth empowerment and job creation, including a holistic strategy of supporting budding entrepreneurs with mentorship, and skills development, besides the financial backing.”

Since its launch, the Corpreneurship Challenge train has crisscrossed the length and breadth of Nigeria, making a stop in 10 States per stream to turn the dreams of fresh graduates and aspiring entrepreneurs into reality, thus supporting the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria.

The latest edition was held across 10 States, including Taraba, Kogi, FCT, Lagos, Yobe, Ogun, Ebonyi, Enugu, Adamawa, and Imo State, with three winners emerging in each State to make up 30 winners for the edition.