Ecobank Nigeria Limited has partnered with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to train and provide support services to 16,000 Nigerian youths to help nurture their dreams of wealth creation through agriculture.
The bank’s Head of Public Sector and Agricultural Business, Ms. Ayo Osolake, said while announcing the partnership that the training was targeted at young Nigerians from the age of 18 to 40 years and that the training was structured into phases for both digital and physical audiences.
Osolake explained that the first phase will last four weeks and will be strictly online, while the second phase will be hybrid, entailing practical sessions and farm visits, and added that it would cover key areas of specialization including poultry, aquaculture, horticulture, and value addition.
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She disclosed that the training would offer an opportunity for participants to build business skills and competencies in agribusiness management, mentoring, and coaching opportunities, linkages to finance, exposure to business plan development, and loan application.
According to her, there would also be post-training support to improve start-up identity and market linkage technologies along the focus value chain, with a view to expanding the frontiers of agricultural opportunities for Nigerians, especially in terms of research, development, and wealth creation.
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“Now is a great time for anyone considering a future in agriculture to be a part of this training. The structure and areas of specialization have been carefully chosen to boost the capabilities of all attendees.
“The training will also cover both theoretical and practical aspects of everything they need to learn. It is a pleasure to work with a foremost institution like the IITA on this, seeing that we share similar values,” she stated.
