Seplat Energy: Supporting Poverty Reduction through Youth Empowerment

To support poverty reduction through youth empowerment, Seplat Energy PLC’s partnership with non-for-profit organisation like the Conversation for Change, C4C, through Seplat Global Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme continuously lives up to its billing. Oluchi Chibuzor reports that the entrepreneurship programme is aimed at developing participants’ leadership skills, social entrepreneurship, and business management abilities, through customised and targeted capacity building workshops. In addition, the beneficiaries’ ability to action their ideas is supported through equipment funding and mentoring

The youths are the leaders of tomorrow. Based on this popular saying, every responsible government needs to develop great policies that are focused on development to show that it is making an effort to guarantee a brighter tomorrow for the young populace.

Irresponsible youths can cause havoc in the society and rather than watch these youths become a problem to the society, political officials and a lot of corporate bodies have taken it upon themselves to fund empowerment programmes which would help to provide jobs for them.

Young people no doubt are tomorrow’s leaders and they come with their own set of futuristic and developmental ideas, which is why organisations would rather work with them for greater impact at the grassroots level.

Many international organisations agree that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals without the participation of today’s youth is impossible. If the youths are educated on how to use their skills properly to improve themselves and the society, they will play significant roles in sustainable development.

To achieve this, their entrepreneurial skills as against white collar jobs, must be nurtured and developed to make the right and desired impact on the economy. Only under peaceful conditions, in a civilised and cooperative society, can young people’s expectations be realised.

Young people are known for overflowing with innovative ideas. They succeed in life when suitably guided and properly motivated, and as we all know, the success of one Nigerian youth is the success of the entire country.

In today’s world, characterised by a high rate of unemployment and poverty, especially among the young populaces, structured youth empowerment option enables beneficiaries to be job creators instead of job seekers, thereby creating wealth in the society.

The success of a Nation can be measured by how successful the youths of the Nation are. The importance of empowering the youths cannot be over-emphasised. A lot more organisations have revved up engagement with empowerment programmes and this is one giant leap towards poverty alleviation.

A society with empowered youths is a strong society, one that will create a legacy of wealth. A fallout of empowerment includes but is not limited to crime reduction, a peaceful and economically growing society, among other benefits. Life expectancy is increased, there is reduced frustrations in the land and the standard of living is greatly enhanced.

This is why organisations like Seplat Energy PLC, have taken it upon themselves to further push the agenda of youth empowerment, by joining a non-for-profit organisation like the C4C to support the empowerment of Nigeria’s young population in a programme tagged Seplat Global Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme.

Seplat Energy Plc, a leading Nigerian energy company listed on the Nigerian Exchange and the London Stock Exchange and thriving in the Nigerian oil and gas sector has again made another great step towards alleviating poverty through youth empowerment. A move that is set to leave a long-lasting mark in improving quality of life and creating an avenue to inspire and provide as many young people as possible with the skills required for becoming successful social entrepreneurs.

In partnership with Conversation for Change (C4C), a number of Fellows have graduated from the duo’s entrepreneurship programme since 2019. C4C is a non-profit organisation with a major objective of empowering young people to participate more effectively in all relevant areas of development.

Efforts are focused on young people aged 18-40, in the belief that they are ready to embark on being valuable and creative members of their society and therefore are most in need of the inspiration, empowerment, guidance and support to do so.

The Seplat Energy JV supports Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme, which aims at developing participants’ leadership skills, social entrepreneurship, and business management abilities, through customised and targeted capacity building workshops. In addition, the beneficiaries’ ability to action their ideas is supported through equipment funding and mentoring.

On April 3, 2023 the company held a special event to celebrate the past beneficiaries (Fellows) of the programme, which began in 2019. It also used the occasion to reaffirm the company’s commitment with another ₦16.5 million funding in seed money to the Programmes partners, Conversation for Change (C4C).

In her opening remarks, the Director of External Affairs & Sustainability, Seplat Energy, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku, noted that through the Seplat JV/C4C partnership, the company has successfully trained and supported three batches of fellows, comprising about 55 young entrepreneurs, who are thriving, creating value and boosting Nigeria’s economy.

“Each beneficiary has shown resilience, creativity and innovation through the duration of the yearly programme and has now become our proof that we could truly make Nigeria better by investing in the youth population,” she said.

“They have become our proof of concept that we can truly make Nigeria better by investing in the youth; one young person (or more) at a time,’’ Nwachuku said.

She added that the trainees were engaged from the selection process to intensive face-to-face training on key management aspects of business and participation in internship trainings.

The trainings are conducted by credible companies in the beneficiaries’ area of vocation and support provided for each of their businesses.

“Seplat Energy’s Corporate Social Responsibility over the last 11 years had been hinged on health, education, infrastructure and economic empowerment.

“We believe that the greatest route to economic growth in Nigeria is through economic empowerment of particularly the youth, women and the underserved,’’ she stressed

A Lecture themed: ‘Unleashing Nigeria’s untapped Potential through Entrepreneurship and Sustainability’ was delivered to the Fellows to commemorate the auspicious occasion. The well-received Lecture by Ms. Arunma Oteh, a former Independent Non-Executive Director of Seplat Energy Plc, and Scholar at Said Business School, University of Oxford, was to build more capacity and further equip the entrepreneurs.

Ms. Oteh commended Seplat Energy JV and its partner, C4C, for their strong commitment to youth empowerment in Nigeria, stating that their activities have helped reduce unemployment and ameliorate the poverty level and have also contributed to economic growth and prosperity in the country. She further asserted that: “Seplat Energy’s approach to sustainability has put the company on a very high pedestal amongst its peers, thus making the company a reference point in Nigeria and internationally.”

Oteh said also that Nigeria needed to surmount challenges faced by SMES, which included unfavourable business environment, poor access to credit and epileptic power supply.

“We need to sort out power, because enterprises suffer more and the cost of doing business in Nigeria is higher than the cost of doing business in other countries.

“As an entrepreneur in Nigeria you have to provide your own electricity, water, and logistics,’’ she said.

Also present at the event was Bello Rabiu, an Independent Non-Executive Director and member of the Sustainability Committee of the Seplat Energy Board, who restated the company’s continuous commitment to encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship in Nigeria. He noted that youth entrepreneurs are major change catalysts in any economy and all hands must be on deck in the quest to empower them and, therefore, reduce unemployment in Nigeria.

Since 2019, Seplat Energy and C4C have collaborated, to ensure that the lives of young Nigerians are improved by supporting them to start and sustain their business enterprises. From the selection process to the intensive face-to-face training on key management aspects of business, participation in internship trainings with credible companies in various areas of vocation and the support provided to each of their businesses, these activities of the fellowship programme have produced innovative and well equipped young social entrepreneurs, ready to take on the world of business and succeed.

The President of C4C, Dr Kechi Ogbuagu affirms that with the collaboration of Seplat Energy and her Partners, the goal of supporting youth entrepreneurs in Nigeria has received a huge boost, thus aiding a better future for the country.

The President and Founder of C4C further noted that the programme had produced 75 fellows with 85 per cent success rate

Seplat Energy’s has notable social programmes anchored on the pillars of Health, Education, Infrastructural Development and Economic Empowerment and geared towards supporting the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme supports SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth and fulfils the company’s drive towards galvanizing an entrepreneurship movement amongst many more young people in Nigeria to boost economic growth.

The event witnessed an impressive exhibition of various products made by the young entrepreneurs, whose small-scale enterprises include but not limited to upcycling of waste, agribusiness, beauty and skincare, among others.

Seplat and C4C not only provides funds for the empowered youths but they also ensure continuous support on an ongoing basis from an Entrepreneurship Resource/Support Centre, Monitoring and Evaluation to track success of start-ups, Periodic workshops/trainings tailored to their emerging needs.

With the successful launch of over 60 businesses in a variety of business fields, the development of a growing network of entrepreneurs, the efficiency of the in-person intensive workshops, and the inclusion of internship and mentorship, this methodology has been put to the test and proven to be reliable.

Quote