Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs Win at Mara Mentor One-on-One Abuja

Young Nigerian entrepreneurs moved closer to their entrepreneurial ambitions yesterday as they competed for a six-month mentorship placement under leading entrepreneurs at the Mara Mentor One-on-One session held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

The Mara Mentor One-on-One event, a session organized for ambitious entrepreneurs to engage experienced business leaders, provided over 60 budding entrepreneurs (mentees) with the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to 25 industry experts (mentors) and a place for a six-month mentorship period during which the experts would act as mentors, providing guidance and direction as they venture into the entrepreneurship space.

The business leaders, who are also mentors on Mara Mentor, the largest entrepreneurship community in Nigeria (www.mentor.mara.com), grilled the young entrepreneurs (mentees) who were given three minutes each to pitch their business ideas in a clear and concise manner.

At the end of the session which was moderated by leading Nigerian social media entrepreneur Japheth Omojuwa, over 40 mentees were selected for six-month mentorship placements.

The selected entrepreneurs will now proceed for the mentorship period under the tutelage of a cross section of business leaders including: Adekunle Adebiyi (GM, Regional Operations MTN Nigeria) Hayija Aisha Babangida (Chairperson, Better Life for African Rural Women), Mohammed Santuraki (Managing Director, Bank of Agriculture), Binta Max-Gbinije (CEO, Stanbic IBTC Trustees) among others.

The One-on-One session, which is the sequel to the exceedingly successful Mara Mentor One-on-One Lagos event, had in attendance top stakeholders in the youth empowerment and development space, including The Federal Minister of Youth Development, Hon. Boni Haruna who commended young Nigerians for “driving their own future by creating opportunities for themselves and others, by undertaking different entrepreneurial ventures aimed towards economic freedom and empowerment.”

According to the Minister, “[The] Mara Mentor program is a project designed to enhance entrepreneurship education, capacity building and mentorship for the young Nigerian entrepreneur,” the minister said, adding that the Federal Ministry of Youth Development has played an active role supporting the progress of the entrepreneurial initiative.

The Minister also commended the business leaders present, thanking them for investing their time and expertise on young Nigerians.

Mentors, including Dr. Mairo Mandara (Country Representative, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Bankole Cardoso (MD EasyTaxi Nigeria) and Hakeem Shagaya (CEO, KAMROD Prefabrication), also lauded the innovative nature of the Mara Mentor One-on-One sessions, encouraging young entrepreneurs to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions and take advantage of the unique business mentorship opportunity it offers.

Following the success of the event, Hetal Shah, Head of Operations, Mara, assured participants Mara will facilitate mentor-mentee relationship during the six-month mentorship period and also provide the mentees with further support during and after the event.

The Mara Mentor program was launched by President Goodluck Jonathan alongside Founder of Mara Group and Mara Mentor, Ashish J. Thakkar on May 29th, 2014 at the Democracy Day celebrations in Abuja. The Mara Mentor initiative is in partnership with the Federation, Ministry of Youth Development, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, and the National Planning Commission.

The initiative is also supported by UN Women, Ernst &Young, Africa 2.0, MTN, Beat 99.9 FM, BusinessDay, Pulse.ng, Enterprise54.com, TechCityNg and other local partners.