By CHARLES IWUOHA

No fewer than 200 youths in Igboeze-North Local Government Area of Enugu State, on Monday, graduated from three-month Youth ICT and Skill Acquisition Project (YISAP) of the Baywood Foundation.

They were trained on entrepreneurship skills such as ICT, photography, video-editing, barbing, digital marketing, graphics design, confectioneries, making of household essentials, consumables, fascinators and hats among others.

Speaking at the graduation at the Igboeze North council headquarters in Enugu-Ezike community, the Country Director of Baywood Foundation, Mr. Chukwudi Ojielo, appreciated the programme funder, the Coca-Cola Foundation, for believing in the empowerment of youths.

Ojielo thanked the Igboeze North council chairman and people of the area in making the skill training programme a success; while encouraging the graduating youths to value what they had learnt.

“I charge you, youths of Igboeze North Council Area, especially our graduating youths, to stand tall and project your businesses to the world through the social media marketing skills you have learnt from the training.

“You should not be discouraged by your small beginning but abide by the habit of savings. Never you compromise on quality and always be a person of integrity,’’ he said.

The country director said that 33 out of the 200 graduating youths, who performed exceptionally well in their various field of trainings, would be given ‘seed grant’.

The Chairman of Igboeze North Council Area, Chief Ejike Itodo, expressed gratitude to the Coca-Cola and Baywood Foundations for selecting and executing the brilliant empowerment programme for youths in the council area.

Itodo, represented by the secretary of the council, Mr Paul.Odo, said: “I believe in the anticipated great impact of this entrepreneurship programme.

“Our youths have been empowered and I look forward to the great transformation this programme will make in their lives in some time to come.”

One of the graduating youths, Miss Jennifer Eze, thanked both foundations for the ample opportunity given to youths in Igboeze North to acquire entrepreneurial skills to be productive and self-reliant.

Eze said: “With the training I got in confectioneries making, I believe I will make a living from it.”

Another graduating youth, Mr. Tony Okafor, appreciated Coca-Cola and Baywood Foundations for adding value to his life and assured to utilise the skill he learnt to double his influence and income in life.

It would be recalled that Baywood Foundation, in January, received a grant award of 98,925 dollars from the Coca-Cola Foundation to empower 600 youths in Enugu State through YISAP Project.

The project is providing the seed grant of between N45,000 and N60,000 to 100 exceptionally performed youths among the 600 participants measuring from their attendance, learning and innovative capacity during the training.

The 600 penciled down participants are drawn 200 youths from one council area in each of the three senatorial zones of the state.

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