Unity Bank Empowers 400 Fresh Graduates, Invests Over N100 Million In Corpreneurhip Challenge

<h4><strong>Unity Bank Empowers 400 Fresh Graduates<&sol;strong><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> reports that n<&sol;strong>o fewer than 400 fresh graduates have benefited from Unity Bank’s entrepreneurship development initiative&comma; also known as Corpreneurship Challenge over the past five years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This reflects the Bank’s commitment to driving economic growth by supporting the next generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Launched in 20219 with pilots in 4 states &&num;8211&semi; Lagos&comma; Edo&comma; Ogun&comma; and Abuja and scaled to 10 States in 2020&comma; the Corpreneurship Challenge initiative is promoted in partnership with the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development&comma; SAED&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The initiative features a business pitch presentation where participants&comma; who are mostly fresh graduates participating in the one-year compulsory NYSC service&comma; get the opportunity to present their business plans and stand a chance to win business grants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;25841" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-25841" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-25841" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;07&sol;Corprenership&lowbar;Challenge&lowbar;1-300x134&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Unity Bank Empowers 400 Fresh Graduates&comma; Invests Over N100 Million In Corpreneurhip Challenge" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"134" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-25841" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Beneficiaries<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The Bank recently increased the prize money to 16 million Naira per stream&comma; allowing participants who emerge winners in the business pitch to win N800&comma;000&comma; N500&comma;000&comma; and N300&comma;000 Business grants for the 1st&comma; 2nd&comma; and 3rd positions respectively as against the previous editions in which the sum of N500&comma;000&semi; N300&comma;000 and N200&comma;000 were handed out to respective winners in the Corpreneurship Challenge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reflecting on the impact of the initiative&comma; The Divisional Head&comma; Digital Banking and Fintech Partnerships&comma; at Unity Bank&comma; Mr Olufunwa Akinmade&comma; who led the pioneer team that designed the initiative and launched the pilot&comma; said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;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&comma; as well as the size of the problem it is designed to solve for the Nigerian economy”&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Olufunwa expressed satisfaction with Corpreneurship Challenge’s rising profile as one of the leading sector-agnostic business incubators in Nigeria and said the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Bank<&sol;a> is committed to sustaining the programme to attain even greater impact required to boost job creation&comma; with young entrepreneurs leading the charge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also speaking&comma; the Divisional Head of Retail and SME Banking&comma; Mrs&period; Adenike Ambimbola said&comma; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;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&comma; including a holistic strategy of supporting budding entrepreneurs with mentorship&comma; and skills development&comma; besides the financial backing&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since its launch&comma; the Corpreneurship Challenge train has crisscrossed the length and breadth of Nigeria&comma; making a stop in 10 States per stream to turn the dreams of fresh graduates and aspiring entrepreneurs into reality&comma; thus supporting the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The latest edition was held across 10 States&comma; including Taraba&comma; Kogi&comma; FCT&comma; Lagos&comma; Yobe&comma; Ogun&comma; Ebonyi&comma; Enugu&comma; Adamawa&comma; and Imo State&comma; with three winners emerging in each State to make up 30 winners for the edition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;