YouWin Batch 4 Launched With $50million Venture Capital

The 4th batch of the venture capital fund program for Small and Medium Enterprise, SME-Growth Fund, Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, YouWin, was launched on Monday by President Goodluck Jonathan. The launch which took place at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja is expected to support additional 1,500 entrepreneurs along with the SME-Growth fund, which is a private equity fund for entrepreneurs. Speaking at the launch, President Jonathan said the new enterprise fund would enable those who won previous grants from the YouWin programme to take their businesses to the next level. ‎ According to News Agency of Nigeria, the president said judicious administration of the fund would require hard work on the side of government, adding that if government worked hard, it could attract more contributions from investors. The president further noted that the new fund would be managed by independent fund managers alongside the government and “you will not need to know somebody to access it”. He said that selection of beneficiaries would be highly competitive and strictly based on merit. The president lauded the efforts of the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whom, he said, has so far successfully coordinated three batches of the YouWin programme. Citing available records, President Jonathan expressed delight that a total of 22,000 jobs had been created by the first and second editions of YouWin. He expressed hope that with the launch of the fourth edition, the total number of jobs would rise to 44,000. The president, who had earlier inspected an exhibition by beneficiaries of the programme, expressed happiness over the quality of products which, he said, were of international standard. Describing YouWin as arguably one of the finest initiatives of his administration, President Jonathan said that the response of youths to the programme was a source of pleasure to him. In her speech, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said that the disbursement of funds in the third phase of the programme would commence shortly as the hitches had been cleared. She added that another 1,500 entrepreneurs would be supported with grants of between one million naira and 10 million naira to enable them to improve or run their businesses, expand them and create jobs.‎