By Olayinka Abosede Oluwayemisi
Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Pan Atlantic University, in partnership with Master Card Foundation, has held a three-day entrepreneurship programme for female corps members in selected states, including Anambra.
The programme in Anambra State took place at the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Permanent Orientation Camp in Umuawulu, Anambra State, with 147 female corps members in attendance.
Mr Chukwudi Udeh, a certified Business Development Service Provider who was the facilitator of the three-day programme which spanned from Monday, 7 July to Wednesday 9 July, 2025, with breakfast and lunch provided for all attendees.
The topics ranged from Growth Plan Development; Legal and Regulatory Aspects of setting up a business in Nigeria; Customer Service Management.
Others were Marketing Strategy; Business Strategy; Human Resource Management; Managing Operations and Market Assessment.
Mr Udeh, speaking on Growth Plan Development, said the three important things to be considered for a business startup were Customer, Finance and Growth. He said that for any business to survive, those three things must be considered as they went a long way in determining the future of the product or service in view.
On the Legal and Regulatory Aspects of setting up a business in Nigeria, which, he said, encapsulated business ownership and legal requirements, he said business name, type of business entity, directors/shareholders, and objectives, among others, came under it.
On Customer Service Management, he mentioned internal and external customers of an organization and referred to them as the decision makers, beneficiaries and users of a product/service.
He urged corps members to learn to treat their staff well, noting that a human being was a fundamental resource for making or construction of anything. He gave examples of people with bad reputation from their staff and how it affected their business.
Mr Udeh encouraged the corps members to have something that made their brand unique, as there were many competitors, noting that was what would make people patronize their services or products.
The participants were divided into categories based on the nature of their business, among which were Manufacturing, Fashion designing, food processing, services, buying and selling, among others.
At the end of the lecture, Udeh asked the participants to list the things needed for their business expansion, which they all did and were commended for their efforts.
On the last day of the programme, participants were given a form to fill with the title: “Growth Plan”, where they were asked questions about their businesses and asked to list the things that would be needed for the business expansion which they could not afford at the early stage of the business.
Mr Udeh advised participants to make sure to fill their forms well and think of the necessary things before they wrote their responses as they would be checked before some would be selected for another three months of training, which, he said, would give them access to free business mentorship, business registration, access to information on funding, one-on-one business advisory session and sponsorship.
Many of the corps members described the programme as insightful, noting that corps members from different local governments of the state had what they described as an amazing time.
Those in each category were asked to share their thoughts on their businesses and what they needed to expand them. During the session, they were able to meet with others from various local governments which afforded them the opportunity to network with them in their line of business and gain more business experience.
Also present at the programme were Mr. Augustine Ogiator, Head of Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) Programme; Dr. Ikechukwu Okafor, Local Government Inspector (LGI) Awka South; Miss Ifunanya Akudolu, support staff and data specialist, SMEDAN.
