APLUS Trainers, a training
and business consulting firm with a mission to support entrepreneurship
development and small businesses in Nigeria is organising its annual Social Entrepreneurship workshop. The theme
this year is ‘The Social Enterprise – Impact, Innovation and Sustainability’.
This is scheduled for March 15-17, 2016.
According to Mrs Titi Ojo, Executive Director,
APLUS Trainers, “Social entrepreneurship is the solution to solving social and economic
problems, a critical need for Nigeria at this time.” She further added “Social
Entrepreneurs use innovative ways to fill the gaps in existing services that
cannot be delivered by the public and private sectors. The need to develop the
capacity of potential and existing social entrepreneurs cannot be overemphasized,
hence the need for this conference.”
According to Mr Mene Blessing, an international award winning
social entrepreneur and
speaker at the conference, “Social entrepreneurs are
solving problems globally and innovation is what makes the difference. The need
to encourage young people especially to think outside the box and create
enterprises that solve society’s most pressing needs is absolutely important.
We need social innovators in all sectors; agriculture, technology, finance,
health, education among others”
The efforts being put into entrepreneurship
development in Nigeria is commendable but a lot is still desired. The social
enterprise impacts society on a scale far above that of a business that is all
out for profit alone. Therefore the need to support ideas and innovation that
come from social entrepreneurs, creating an enabling environment for them to
thrive and fostering collaboration and continuous dialogue is essential.
Mr Doyin Adewola, the CEO of Box Office Incubator
in Abuja and a speaker at the event commended the efforts of the organisers.
“The social entrepreneur is a creative visionary and what matters to him is
solving a pressing problem that he believes will impact community”, he added “the
Box Office was born out of the need to solve the pending problem of access to
decent workspace for businesses in Abuja and today the vision is a reality and
a point of reference”
The target
audience are young people with ideas for social innovation, business startups, already existing
businesses, executives running social businesses or NGOs who are seeking to
reshape or grow their organisations, corporate organisations/public
institutions that have interest in CSR projects and need ideas, individuals who
wish to explore a new career in social entrepreneurship, policy makers in every
sector of the economy, government or philanthropic organisations that might be
looking to invest in or buy from Social Enterprise.
“I am excited at this opportunity to speak at the
APLUS social entrepreneurship conference”, stated Mrs Josephine Nzerem, the
Regional Director, Ashoka West Africa Anglophone. “I commend APLUS Trainers for
putting together a programme like this at a time when Social Entrepreneurship
is being globally promoted and gaining buy-in for socioeconomic development”.
She encouraged the education sector to take advantage of this event. “The need
to include social entrepreneurship in the curriculum is critical to national
development. The Ministry of education, the Nigeria Universities Commission
(NUC) and Entrepreneurship development arms of all universities should
participate in these three days conference”, she said.
Dr Victor Fodeke, an Ashoka fellow in the area of
environment and sustainable community development reiterated the need to start
aligning our thoughts with the Sustainable Development Goals. “Using the 17
goals as a guide, we will be raising social entrepreneurs that are contributing
greatly to the needs of society”, he said. “This conference presents the
platform to plug into green and sustainable business ideas emanating from these
goals”
Cynthia Anaele, a leading digital media consultant
and speaker at the event in her comments stated the need for the social
enterprise to leverage on digital media platforms. In her words “When you are
doing so much and no one knows about it, it is like winking in the dark”. “The
opportunity to learn from digital experts on story-telling and social media
marketing is an opportunity one should not miss at this conference”
A highlight
of the event is the Social Innovators pitch, a session where social innovation
ideas are presented before a panel of judges and the audience. The top 3
entries will receive 3 months to 1 year of incubation and mentorship support. Interested
participants, especially young people are encouraged to apply online.
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