President Buhari Bows To Pressure, Relaunch Jonathan’s YouWiN Programme

Goodluck Jonathan during his reign as Nigeria’s President initiated the YouWin! Small and Medium Enterprise, SME Growth Fund responsible for creating over 22,000 jobs – but as Muhammodu Buhari took over as President, it was put on hold with intention to scrape.

However, a source revealed that Buhari has succumbed to pressure and has given his approval for the YouWiN relaunch.

The source disclosed that Buhari was initially unconvinced about the programe but finally bowed to pressure to continue with YouWiN but, albeit, under a new name.

This laudable project was began by former president Goodluck Jonathan with sponsorship from World Bank under the coordination of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

This affected the payment of the YouWiN3 Awardees who up till now have not received their 2nd and 3rd tranches. Expectedly, this has affected their businesses threatening them to the point of folding up if nothing is done to pay them the remaining funds.

In order not to get Nigerians talking about the government copying the works of the “ineffectual Buffon” as tagged by The Economist, a new name and a new platform has been created.

The YouWiN Programme has been renamed “BUSINESS INNOVATION GROWTH (BIG)” by the Buhari administration.

Interested Nigerians can log into the new website and enter for the competition: www.bigportal.org.ng

HISTORY

From 2012 to 2015, the Jonathan government gave away over $100 million dollars to over 3,000 entrepreneurs as part of the YouWin competition. More than $50 million has already been disbursed. The winning entrepreneurs have received grants averaging $50,000 dollars to start or expand a business, and thus create jobs. Only people ages 40 and younger were allowed to apply.

In 2011, the former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan formally launched the first round of the business competition YouWin.

In the first of four rounds, the government granted $58 million to 1,200 entrepreneurs.

Goodluck Jonathan had the following words for YouWiN;

BILL GATES’ MICROSOFT AND MARK ZUCKERBERG’S FACEBOOK ARE ELOQUENT TESTIMONIES TO THE CAPACITY OF THE YOUTH TO DREAM BIG AND WIN BIG IN AN INNOVATIVE MANNER. WE HAVE SUCH MEN AND WOMEN IN THIS LAND TOO: OUR CHALLENGE IS TO FIND THEM EARLY, NURTURE THEM AND ENCOURAGE THEM.”

WORLD BANK on YouWiN

In August 2015, the World Bank published an evaluation of the YouWin program by the economist David McKenzie. McKenzie analyzed survey data on the 1,920 firms three years after the program began, and found that the grant had a larger impact than he expected. The selected firms were substantially more likely to launch, survive, make profits, and, most importantly, to generate new jobs.

Of the firms evaluated, approximately 60% were new and 40% already existed. McKenzie analyzed these groups separately.

The main impact of the grant was that it seemed to have helped firms get off the ground and survive. Three years after the competition, 91% of entrepreneurs who launched their business after winning the grant were still in operation compared to only 54% of the losing entrepreneurs. For existing businesses, 96% of the grant-winners survived, while only 76% of the losers continued to operate.

Credit: www.opinionriver.com