Unity Bank bags NYSC Youth Empowerment award

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has recognised Unity Bank Plc with the Icon of Youth Empowerment award for its contribution to the growth of entrepreneurship among Nigerian youths.

This was contained in a statement by the bank’s management made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

The statement said that the award was presented to the bank during the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Department (SAED) festival held in Abuja.

NYSC in the statement commended the bank’s leadership led by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Tomi Somefun.

According to NYSC, Unity Bank commitment was evident in the Corpreneurship initiative through which businesses of hundreds of corps entrepreneurs were being funded.

Speaking after receiving the award, the bank’s Group Head, Retail, SME and E-Banking, Mr Olufunwa Akinmade, said: “We are encouraged by this award to continue to partner with SAED in driving the Corpreneurship initiative.

“We believe that the Corpreneurship Challenge possesses the capacity to unlock the entrepreneurship ingenuity of the youths in Nigeria.

“We commend the leadership of the NYSC for the award, even as we appreciate the leadership and the team at SAED for working hard to make this partnership produce the desired outcome.

“We are optimistic that the partnership will be sustained for as long as possible until it has impacted a critical mass that considerably reduces graduate unemployment in our nation,” Akinmade said.

The Corpreneurship challenge, which earned the lender the award, is a business plan competition that provides corps members with the opportunity to pitch their business ideas and stand a chance of winning business grants ranging from N200,000 to N500,000.

The bank premiered the Corpreneurship Challenge in 2019, with a launch in Lagos and in three other states which included Edo, Ogun, and Abuja.

However, with the increasing popularity of the initiative among corps entrepreneurs, the bank extended the programme to 10 states of the federation including Lagos, Ogun, Abuja, Edo, Katsina, Enugu, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto and Kaduna.

The statement said Unity Bank had invested over N80 million in the initiative, with 58 winners since the programme was launched.