Unity Bank Empowers Young Entrepreneurs With ₦16M Business Grant

<h4>Unity Bank Empowers Young Entrepreneurs With ₦16M Business Grant<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that no fewer than 30 young entrepreneurs have been awarded a ₦16 million business grant by Unity Bank Plc during the latest edition of its flagship entrepreneurship development initiative&comma; the Corpreneurship Challenge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The winners&comma; budding entrepreneurs developing innovative solutions across various business value chains including fashion design&comma; bag making&comma; pastry making&comma; event management&comma; beauty&comma; vegetable farming&comma; and more&comma; emerged tops after participating in a business pitch competition held recently for Batch A Stream 2 across 10 NYSC Orientation Camps in Cross River&comma; Niger&comma; Abuja&comma; Nasarawa&comma; Taraba&comma; Kaduna&comma; Plateau&comma; Jigawa&comma; Anambra&comma; and Lagos States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the NYSC Orientation Camp in Ipaja&comma; Lagos State&comma; corps member Adeniyi Stephen Gbemininyi&comma; who pitched a fashion design business&comma; emerged as the overall winner&comma; clinching the ₦800&comma;000 grand prize&period; Kolawole Opeoluwa Darasimi&comma; a budding bag maker&comma; won a ₦500&comma;000 grant&comma; while Johnson Elizabeth Ene received a ₦300&comma;000 grant to support her cake and pastry business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;29790" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-29790" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-29790" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;07&sol;Unity-scaled-e1751604766692-300x161&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Unity Bank Empowers Young Entrepreneurs With ₦16M Business Grant" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"161" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-29790" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>The grand prize winner&comma; Adeniyi Stephen poses with her cheque<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Across the remaining nine states&comma; 27 other winners also emerged after pitching business plans in diverse sectors such as fish production&comma; poultry farming&comma; fashion&comma; soap and cake making&comma; printing&comma; piggery&comma; beverage production&comma; and more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over the past six years&comma; the Unity Bank Corpreneurship Challenge has become an integral part of the NYSC programme&comma; aligning with the Federal Government’s commitment to upskilling fresh graduates amid the growing dearth of white-collar jobs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The programme attracts thousands of applications from serving NYSC corps members&comma; whose business plans are evaluated for originality&comma; marketability&comma; employability potential&comma; and overall business acumen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking during the grand finale in Lagos&comma; Unity Bank’s Divisional Head&comma; Retail &amp&semi; SME&comma; Mrs&period; Adenike Abimbola&comma; said&colon; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;At Unity Bank&comma; we believe that empowering young people to shape Nigeria’s economic future must be supported to provide longer-term sustainability&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&&num;8220&semi;Through the Corpreneurship Challenge&comma; we are not just providing funding&comma; but nurturing a new generation of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">entrepreneurs<&sol;a> equipped with the skills&comma; resources&comma; and confidence to create jobs and transform communities&period; The success stories we see year after year reaffirm our commitment to youth empowerment and SME development&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She added&colon; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The overwhelming interest and high quality of business ideas we receive in every edition demonstrate the incredible potential among Nigeria’s youth&period; We are proud to partner with the NYSC SAED to make these dreams a reality&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Corpreneurship Challenge has earned Unity Bank national recognition for its contribution to youth empowerment and job creation&comma; attracting over 2&comma;000 applicants per edition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In partnership with the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development &lpar;SAED&rpar; programme&comma; the initiative features a business pitch competition that allows participants to present their business plans and win grants of up to ₦800&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So far&comma; Unity Bank has invested over ₦100 million in the initiative&comma; producing over 160 winners since its launch in 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;25980" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-25980" style&equals;"width&colon; 224px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-25980" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;07&sol;Unity-Bank&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Unity Bank Empowers Young Entrepreneurs With ₦16M Business Grant" width&equals;"224" height&equals;"225" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-25980" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Unity Bank<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;