Creating an entrepreneurial mindset through farming

A project proposal for

Entrepreneurship training program for unemployed youth in poor Communities, Nigeria

July 2013

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PROJECT PROFILE

Project Title: Entrepreneurship training for unemployed youth in poor communities

Organization: Springboard (NGO)

Contact Person: Lawrence Afere

Contact Address: P.O.Box 3855, Oke Aro Titun, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria Phone: +2348067551755

e-mail: lawrence2012@iiseconnect.org, springboardoffice@gmail.com

Location: Akure, Ondo State (South West, Nigeria)

Website: www.springboardng.webs.com

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSpringboard was established to combat the increasing rate of youth unemployment and the overwhelming urban migration of rural youth which are the major causes of the high crime rate in Nigeria. The main objective of the project is to transform rural youth into individuals who see sustainable livelihood opportunities in their communities and give them the skills to facilitate self employment.

Through a six (6) months training program, Springboard combines organic farming and entrepreneurship training to create a practical and integrated learning experience for unemployed youth from poor communities. This will equip them with relevant skills to start their own businesses after completing the training.

The training is divided into four (4) stages.

1. Participants will cultivate farmland and in the process learn entrepreneurship skills such as planning, teamwork, marketing, responsibility, communication, money management etc. Personal transformation of the participants and the different entrepreneurial skills learned in the process of farming are the basic outcome of the activities.

2. Participants will use the skills acquired in the previous stage to identify needs in the community, design business projects to meet the needs and organize their findings and thoughts into a viable business plan. The basic outcome from this stage is for participants to develop green business ideas they intend to start after the training.

3. Apprenticeship. Based on their business ideas, participants will be attached to relevant organizations for further hands-on training.

4. Graduation which leads to business start-up. Participants will be supported with micro credit and continuous mentorship to start and manage their businesses successfully.

The first batch of the Springboard 6months training began on 13th May, 2013 with 20 youth from 15 low-income communities in Akure, Ondo State. Due to lack of money to transport themselves to the training centres, 7 participants dropped out. The budget for this project is USD12,082 and it covers onetime costs such as farm equipments, 2 wheelers motorcycle (to transport farm products), projector etc and recurrent costs such as training materials, facilitators’ fee, participants’ apprenticeship allowance, salaries and administrative.

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1. PERSONAL INTRODUCTION

My name is Lawrence Afere and I'm a Nigerian.

In 2003, I went to the university where I studied Business Management with an intention to graduate and get a well paid job that will help cater for my family. I remember it was a Friday, November 17, 2006, when my life changed. This change was triggered by a report in the newspaper about the plight of over 30 million unemployed Nigerian youths. It raised the question, what may happen to the country in 2020 if nothing was done to solve the situation. It was written in the report that “By 2020, Nigeria will have over 20 million highly skilled criminals”1 I was really sad and concerned after reading this report. Immediately, I felt I might someday become a victim of what this report says. And then my perspective shifted from living for myself to finding a way to help the situation and also become self employed. I found myself constantly thinking about this.

Process of realising my dreamAfter graduating from the university in 2007, I returned to my town, Akure, a low-income community in the south west of Nigeria. It was a huge shock for my parents, relatives and friends to see me returning home. They all expected me to remain in the city and get a good job. Thinking of the investment they had on me, my parents felt disappointed when I informed them I wanted to do something different with my life by empowering unemployed young people. After some time I agreed with my parents and went back to the city where I got a job. However, the dream of doing something different was still in my mind and therefore I was not able to focus properly. Finally, I quit the job and went back to my town. People, especially family members said I was bewitched! People in Nigeria are suspicious when things are not going as expected. They believe there is a spiritual force that can influence one's destiny.“Where and how could I start?” I kept asking myself. I was jobless and wanted to do something that would give jobs to unemployed young people in my town and I wanted to have a meaningful occupation myself. I tried several things that failed for example selling books to schools. Selling books was not an effective tool for bringing young people together. But this time my undying passion would not let me give up.

An Idea that worked!Late 2008 I had an idea to start a farm where we would cultivate and sell farm products. I shared my idea with the unemployed young people in my church and 5 of them showed interest and also invited 9 of their friends. A parent, who was interested in our idea, lent 7 plots of farmland to us free of cost. We named the farm 'Youth Farm Project' and 15 of us began to cultivate the land by planting maize. In the process, I realized that there is a relationship between a farming process and entrepreneurship. The farming process

provides a practical experience for learning how to become an entrepreneur. In 2010, we began to cultivate plantain, a local banana in Nigeria. The project has given opportunities to unemployed youth and I to generate some income.

1 THE PUNCH, Friday, November 17, 2006, pp.52

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Lawrence Afere

ShockOn Thursday, June 21, 2012, I became a victim of highway robbery by some young Nigerians as I was preparing to travel to India. As one of them put a gun to my face, asking for my money, and in deep fear, the thoughts of my wife and son came to my mind. “I don't want to die now” I said to myself. So I gave my money. Immediately I remembered the report that changed the course of my life and career six years ago “If nothing is done to help the country's youth situation, by 2020, Nigeria will have 20 million highly skilled criminals.” sadly, on this day, I became a victim of the over 20 million highly skilled criminals my country is presently grooming!"

Wings to my dreamsI started the Youth Farm project with very little knowledge on how to successfully manage a social project. As a result I faced some challenges such as project management, marketing, fund raising, and proposal writing. In order to create a positive impact for my country as mentioned above, I had decided to apply for a training course that was offered by kanthari, International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs in Kerala, South of India. It was a prayer answered when I received a scholarship to attend the Kanthari course. In the Institute, through hands on training, I have learned relevant skills that I need to manage social and business projects. My journey to Kanthari has inspired me to turn my farm into a springboard that creates an entrepreneurial mindset in Nigerian youth. It has also motivated me to have a vision for my country: a Nigeria famous for its young entrepreneurial people. A Nigeria with people that strive for progress, independence and find solutions for typical Nigerian problems. Kanthari has given me wings to fly with my dreams!

2. THE PROBLEMNigeria has a population of 170,123,740 (July 2012 est.),1 and one third of the country's population is young people between the ages of 10-24 years.2 Youth unemployment has become one of the most serious problems confronting Nigeria. Unemployment among the youth is 40 per cent in the rural areas and 49 per cent in the urban areas.3 As a result of this, and also because of the uncertain future, Nigerian youths are pushed to engage in criminal livelihood sources such as kidnapping, robbery, internet scam, militancy, terrorism, oil bunkering, arms and drugs trafficking, etc while others engage in casual work which is highly irregular.

Most training programmes run by the Nigerian government and NGOs to address the huge unemployment of the youth, such as National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), National Poverty Eradication Programmes, Jobs fairs etc are not specific to local resources, local needs and local talents and aspirations. Rather, the training is given in particular vocations which are already saturated for example tailoring, cake baking, beads stringing, and interior decoration. These programmes do not facilitate the transformation of unemployed youth into individuals who see a new perspective for their future and into people who can harness their creativity. The unsolved unemployment problems have also contributed to the migration of large numbers of rural unemployed youths to the cities where they also become more frustrated as they are unable to secure jobs upon arrival in the cities.

2.1. Analysis of the causes of youth unemployment in NigeriaThe following are the major causes of the increase in youth unemployment in Nigeria:• Population Growth: With a yearly population growth of 2.553% (2012 est.)5 Nigeria has

1 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html2 http://nigeria.unfpa.org/youngpeople.html3 British Council Nigeria and Harvard School of Public Health (2010) Nigeria: The Next Generation Report5 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html

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continued to experience an overwhelming increase in young population growth thereby resulting in rapid growth of labourers but non-sufficient jobs are available.• Rural-Urban migration by young people: In Nigeria, youth migrate to the cities more than other migrants. But unfortunately, job opportunities in Nigerian cities are very limited. The rate of unemployment goes up due to migration youth• Lack of employable and entrepreneurship skills due to inappropriate school curricula: Many Nigerian youth lack the skills that employers demand and also lack the entrepreneurial skills they require to facilitate self employment.• Perception of policy makers, NGOs and the youth themselves about employment: To policy makers and most youth in Nigeria, employment means a job with salary and working for someone else. It is this perception that has continued to influence the institutions and NGOs that provide skills and training. Training programmes are generally tailored towards preparing young people for formal sector jobs.

2.2. The Potentials of Nigerian YouthsStatistics has shown that a large chunk of Nigerian youths are very talented and full of potentials but such talents are unfortunately wasted.6 These potentials can be channeled towards individual and national development. Lack of competencies, entrepreneurial skills and disconnection from societal and economic mainstreams have negated them from living meaningful and productive lives.

3. ABOUT SPRINGBOARD

3.1. Vision:A Nigeria where young people are able to realize their dreams regardless of their social and economic background.

3.2. Mission:To create an entrepreneurial and productive community of youth using the processes of farming.

3.3. Overall Objective:To transform rural youth in Nigeria into individuals who see sustainable livelihood opportunities in their communities and give them the skills to facilitate self employment. Organic farming is a tool used to offer them training in entrepreneurship.

3.4. Target Group:Unemployed youth between the ages of 18-35 years in rural communities, who are highly motivated to start green businesses in their communities.

4. WHY ORGANIC FARMING?Farming accounts for the bulk of GDP in Nigeria, and probably employs a higher absolute number of youth than any sector. However, its full potentials are rarely exploited. Much of Nigerian land lies fallow.7 Also, there are numerous traits of an entrepreneur that can be learned from a farmer in the process of farming.

Below are the similar traits in farmers and entrepreneurs:• Farmers plant seeds. You cannot harvest what you don't plantEntrepreneurs have business ideas. You can not start a business without an idea• A farmer knows that to reap in abundance, he must sow in even more abundance and nurture the seeds planted. No short cut

6 http://www.modernghana.com/new/250552/1/nigeria-youths-and-the-challenges-of-nation-build.html7 Onnol Ruhl, “Nigeria's Youth:Turning Challenges into Opportunity” Federal University of Technology, Owerri

(pp.10)

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An entrepreneur knows that to build a successful business, he must invest tirelessly in the business through responsibility, teamwork, hard work, planning ahead, marketing, communication, money management, time management, etc• A farmer is patient, allowing his crops to grow and mature before harvestingAn entrepreneur sacrifices instant gratification for the sake of long-term success and the fulfillment of a business vision.• Farmers protect and tend their farms.Entrepreneurs stand up for their vision, work on the vision passionately, and empower their team members to do same.• A farmer provides food for his communityAn entrepreneur meets the needs of his community

The above farmer/entrepreneurial traits are what springboard will use to create an entrepreneurial mindset in unemployed youth.

5. SPRINGBOARD TRAINING PROGRAMMESpringboard combines organic farming and entrepreneurship training to create a practical and integrated learning experience for unemployed youth. And this equips our participants with relevant skills to start their own businesses after completion of the training. Currently, 13 participants (2 females and 11 males) are undergoing the first batch of the Springboard training which will end on 1st December, 2013.Participants go through a six (6) months non-residential training in the following structure:

• Stage 1: Farm AdventureDuring the first stage (3 months) of the training, participants cultivate farmland and in the process learn entrepreneurial skills such as planning, teamwork, marketing, responsibility, communication, money management etc. Participants are put into groups and each group is given a portion of farmland on the Springboard Farm to plant (such as maize and vegetables), nurture, harvest and market the produce in the community. 60% of all income earned by groups through the sales of their farm produce is given to participants at the end of the training as part of the start-up money for their small businesses. The remaining 40% goes into project running costs. On the farm, we focus on the process of farming. Personal transformation of the participants and the different entrepreneurial skills learned in the process of farming are the basic outcome of the activities. At the end of this stage, each group puts their learning experiences from the farm into a viable business plan and presents to a group of successful entrepreneurs with the aim of evaluating participants' growth.• Stage 2: Business Idea DevelopmentIn this stage (1 month), each participant will apply the knowledge and skills acquired during their time on the farm to identify needs in the community, design business project to meet these needs and organize their findings into individual business plans. Participants continue to develop their entrepreneurial skills through interactive workshops that will be facilitated by experienced entrepreneurs and business owners. At the end of this stage, participants are sure of what businesses they will start after completing the training program. And they are also ready to present their business ideas to a group of successful entrepreneurs.

• Stage 3: ApprenticeshipBased on the participants' business ideas, each of them will have the opportunity to receive a hands-on training through a 2 month apprenticeship program from local entrepreneurs.

• Stage 4: Graduation and Business LaunchAfter graduating from the program, participants will be supported to start their businesses. Micro credit (in addition to the money they earned from the sales of their farm products in Stage 1) and continuous mentorship will be given.

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6. EXPECTED MEASURABLE RESULTS AND MEASUREMENTSpringboard expects the following impact:• At the end of the maiden training, 13 participants from 10 low-income communities in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, would receive relevant skills that would facilitate self employment• 13 businesses would be created by the graduates of this training and also generate jobs for at least 13 other unemployed young people who will work with them.• 10 low-income communities will experience 13 start-ups• The overall impact of the project is reduction in the rate of youth unemployment, rural-urban migration and crime. Also, our graduates will serve as a source of motivation for other unemployed youth in their communities who will also like to participate in the next batch of Springboard training starting in February 2014

8. APPRECIATIONThank you for reading my proposal. I will be glad if you donate to this project.

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