CBN Begins Evaluation of Proposals for N500m TIES Grants

James Emejo

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it has commenced the review of 145 applications from tertiary institutions, jostling to access funding for various entrepreneurship innovations that could lead to significant job creation across the country.

In November 2021, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, formally launched the bank’s N500 million Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES) to boost entrepreneurship in higher institutions.

Emefiele had also inaugurated the Body of Experts (BoE) chaired by the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, among other professionals to evaluate and rank entrepreneurial presentations made by the tertiary institutions under the developmental (grant) component of the scheme.

He had also said members of the body were professionals of impeccable standing, drawn from the academia, professional bodies, and industry – which shall recommend projects with high potential and transformational impact for grant awards.

However, Suleiman, at the second stage pitch competition by 30 top regional shortlist for the maiden TIES grant award for universities and polytechnics in Abuja, yesterday, said one of the objectives of the programme was to ensure that young undergraduates become employers of labour rather than being unemployed when they leave school.

He said: “What the CBN is pushing for is a process where while in the universities, the collaborative efforts between the faculties, the institutions and the students will lead to outcomes that would lead to companies emerging from these institutions that would then become employers of labour.

“There were certain focus areas specifically the areas that could lead to high employability from agribusiness, tech to creative industry. We are here today because the BOEs that was inaugurated has gone to an extensive process of reviewing 145 applications from universities across the country.”

He said the body had identified 30 different institutions from the six geopolitical zones in the country and their proposals.

According to him, the shortlisted institutions now have an opportunity to stand before the BOEs and showcase what they have put forward.

Suleiman said: “We are convinced that the thoroughness of the work that has been done would then lead to us being able to identify and score the top performance and eventually the winners of the programme.

“Our hope is that this has met the expectations of the CBN governor when he set this up and most importantly, it would meet the expectation of Nigerians.”

He, further pointed out that bridging the gap between academia and the workplace remained critical, adding that the “more we do this beyond TIES itself, the more public sector partners will find opportunities to collaborate with universities, go through R&D processes and hopefully deliver things that are for the benefits of the country.”

He said evaluation was based on the set criteria and through engagements that showcase entrepreneurial and technological ideas/innovations from Nigerian universities and polytechnics.

He noted that five top projects will be recommended for the final grant awards at the end of the evaluations.

Emefiele, had said TIES was conceived as part of measures to promote entrepreneurship development among the graduate and undergraduate youths of Nigerian polytechnics and universities.

According to him, the scheme is aimed at providing an innovative financing model that will support the development of innovative entrepreneurial ideas among graduates and undergraduates of tertiary institutions in the country.

The CBN governor had explained that the developmental grant component was aimed at raising awareness and visibility of entrepreneurship among undergraduates of Nigerian tertiary institutions.

He explained that under this category, polytechnics and universities in the country shall compete in a national biennial entrepreneurship competition where undergraduates are presented by the tertiary institutions to pitch innovative entrepreneurial or technological ideas with transformational potential.

According to him, three top institutions at the regional levels shall proceed to the national level, where the top five shall be awarded grants ranging between N120 million and N250 million.

He had insisted that the grant awards shall be used by the tertiary institutions solely for the development of the award-willing ideas.

One of the participating institutions from the North-Central zone, the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, made presentation to the BOEs on Shea Business Hub (SBH) for Wealth Creation. The team sought to maximise the opportunities in the Shea value chain which has the potential to generate thousands of direct jobs.

Also, the Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State also presented on Brick-Charcoal Cooling Chamber, which is a new electricity-free approach for storage devices using ancient principles with local materials to reduce post-harvest farm losses. The project seeks to cut post-harvest wastages by over 50 per cent.