The Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the African Enterprise Initiative was signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Industries, Trade, and Investment, and by Dr. Nicky Okoye founder and Executive Chairman of the African Enterprise Initiative and founder Nicky Okoye Foundation.
The African Enterprise Initiative is designed to provide the capacity, the drive, funding, and platform required for Nigerian Enterprises operating at all levels, especially the micro, small and medium businesses, to penetrate global markets, expand their product and service offering base as well as attract investment capital from local and international sources.
A major intervention of the African Enterprise Initiative is a strategic intervention designed for Nigerians at the grassroots and for the Nation’s community-based entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises.
These micro community enterprises will have direct access to African Enterprise Initiative’s community enterprise clinics which will be sited in over 500 many communities across Nigeria.
The African Enterprise Initiative will also create strategic platforms and interventions for the sustainable growth of Nigerian enterprises across the board working closely with the Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investment, local and foreign development partners, State Governments, and other Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
In a statement credited to the Hon Minister at the signing of the MOU, he said……
We are proud to partner with the Nicky Okoye Foundation to implement the African Enterprise Initiative, which has major impact implications for Nigeria’s youth employment situation as well as for growth in the capacity of Nigerian businesses. We are grateful that Dr. Nicky Okoye and the Foundation, chose to start the implementation of the African Enterprise Initiative with Nigeria and we believe that Nigeria’s extensive population of entrepreneurs will benefit from this initiative.
Dr. Nicky Okoye had this to say,
“We designed the African Enterprise Initiative as a strategic response to the need for inclusion in the global market value chain for all Nigerian and African enterprises. In an effort to drive that inclusion we have identified the key resources and requirements our African businesses will need, including access to capital, skills, market penetration, and seamless platforms to do cross-board transactions. We have developed these interventions and streamlined them in an easy-to-understand format that is supported by technology, capital, and expertise. Our strategic partnership with the Federal Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investment is a monumental pillar of the African Enterprise Initiative and we are extremely fortunate that the Federal Government has identified value in what we are doing.”