Students in the Ready.Set.Work initiative of the Lagos State Government will vie for the N15.5 million approved by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for the programme at a business pitch competition on Saturday, September 3, 2016 at the Lagos State University, Ojo campus.

It was announced last week that Governor Ambode approved the grant as seed funding and apprenticeship stipend for 80 students in the entrepreneurship track of the programme.

The RSW pitch competition is one of the activities outlined in the Ready.Set.Work programme where the 24 teams that scaled the semi-finals held last Saturday, will be given the opportunity to pitch their business ideas before a panel of judges.

The business ideas will be judged by a panel comprising of the Commissioners for Wealth Creation, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti; Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo; Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde and the Special Adviser on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh. Also on the panel are the Senior Country Manager for PwC, Mr. Uyi Akpata; the Founder and CEO of SystemSpecs, Mr. John Obaro; and Managing Director of Etisalat, Mr. Matthew Willsher, among others.

In addition, Saturday, September 3, 2016, students in the Employability module of the programme will undergo interview sessions with partner organisations for a chance to be placed in 6-month paid internship slots. HR managers from PwC, SystemSpecs, GTBank, Access Bank, FCMB, Total and Jobberman will be on ground to conduct interviews and select students for their respective organisations.

A mock interview exercise to assess students was conducted two weeks ago.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said during the interview that “Lagos State is committed to providing our students with the tools, knowledge, know-how and the platform to become effective employees or job creators. With the secured internship slots for students in the employability track and 15.5 million Naira approved by the government, Lagos State has positioned these students to become productive members of the labour market.”

The top 3 business ideas as well as those who have been selected to internship positions by the partner organisations will be announced at the RSW Graduation Ceremony slated for Thursday, September 15, 2016 at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island.

•Photo shows Governor Ambode.

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