MTN Foundation (the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of MTN Nigeria) has announced its plans to invest a total of N600 million to directly benefit 1,000 female entrepreneurs in the second iteration of its Y’ellopreneur project, whose objective is to create employment and enhance entrepreneurship amongst women through capacity building and access to capital. Some of the support vehicles include loans, grants, and advisory services in order to achieve long-term business sustainability.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of Phase 2 of Y’ellopreneur, Odunayo Sanya (Executive Director, MTN Foundation) reiterated that Y’ellopreneur Phase 2 would provide a 5-week online entrepreneurial skills and masterclass training for 1,000 female entrepreneurs.
“MTN is investing N600 million in the second phase of the initiative. The sum of N450 million is available at N3 million each for the top 150 qualified Y’ellopreneurs to access as equipment loans at a low 2.5% flat interest rate. Upon full repayment of the loan, the sum of N112,500,000 will be refunded between all 150 Y’ellopreneurs as grants”, said Sanya.
She added that the project was developed to help bridge an entrepreneurship skills gap and push for women self-employment in alignment with the Federal Government’s development agenda, as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 17.
Applications to Y’ellopreneur opened on Tuesday, March 05, 2024, and will close on March 30, 2024.
To apply, click here.
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The MTN Y’ellopreneur initiative targets female entrepreneurs across Nigeria who display passion and commitment to self-employment and run an existing business of two years and above in these areas: circular economy, manufacturing, processing, agriculture, ICT/digital services, waste management, etc. The focus is on businesses that source their raw materials locally.
The first phase of Y’ellopreneur initiative, in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) and Mastercard Foundation, trained 4,711 female entrepreneurs in the fundamentals of business management and development, which empowered them to vie for the opportunity to receive up to N2 Million as equipment loan/ grants to grow their businesses. Equipment loans of over N94 Million were disbursed to 50 female entrepreneurs.