- Interested businesses to apply online
- Targets 200 businesses
BY EDMOND ODOK – Focused on making access to funding less burdensome for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc has cheering news of a free entrepreneurship programme meant to change the nagging negative narrative that pops up around small businesses in the country.
The free entrepreneurship training is part of the Bank’s efforts toward achieving its core mandate of capacity building for small businesses that would assist them to formalize and upscale operations, particularly in the area of addressing challenges associated with accessing financing.
Managing Director of the Bank, Anthony Okpanachi explained that the training will be held on the DBN Learning Management System (LMS), a free learning portal with carefully curated self-paced courses open to all Nigerian MSMEs interested in acquiring the right knowledge needed to succeed in business.
Offering insight into the free DBN learning program for MSMEs, Okpanachi said; “As part of our plans to strengthen our catalytic role in the Nigerian economy, we are expanding our reach to MSMEs and inviting interested Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to take advantage of our free Entrepreneurship Training Program to upscale their skills.
“Consequently, DBN is investing a lot of resources in driving skill acquisition across the different aspects of managing and sustaining a successful business across sectors.’’
“I am confident that, MSMEs who take advantage of this opportunity will gain critical business skills that will pave the way for higher earnings, capacity, increased innovation, self-reliance, and most importantly, improve their ability to access funding for their businesses”.
It is expected that by 23rd September 2022, when the online training session ends, about 200 businesses would be selected for a physical session taking place from October 17 to 21, 2022 in Lagos and Abuja.
Additionally, this will provide an opportunity for businesses to practically learn and apply important principles from online training to their various businesses while also having the opportunity to network and cross-sell their ideas with colleagues.
Also, businesses/participants will be eligible to pitch their business ideas/value proposition to a carefully selected professional panel and successful pitches will be selected to receive grant funding to kick start their journey into the entrepreneurship space.
Interested participants are encouraged to register by clicking the link; https://bizaid.devbankng.com
A statement by DBN further stated that participants are required to complete a minimum of four mandatory courses on the DBN BizAid Learning Management Platform and obtain an average score of 70 percent to be eligible for the in-person classes in Abuja and Lagos.
