Promoting youth entrepreneurship in Lagos, Nigeria - SNHU ...

7.0 Lesson Learnt7.1 RelevanceThis evaluation assessed the current needs of young entrepreneurs. Although capital isperceived as a major need for young aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, interviewrespondents report that lack of awareness about you the entrepreneurship opportunities,access to capital and a more coordinated approach to business-related guidance andtraining are major needs for youth.Evidence shows that there is a need to develop awareness of business creationopportunities and focused skill development mechanisms for youth entrepreneurs of whichthe project was able to fill such gap.While some of the products being developed by Entrepreneurship Development Center,Lagos addresses some of these needs, but the foundation program for student is not part ofand this current project was able to introduce to EDC Lagos this foundation program as aunique product to develop the mindset of youth on entrepreneurship at the high schoollevel.7.2 Design and DeliveryThe curriculum used were customized for all groups of people, but it would have beenbetter to provide training of trainers program for community youth representatives whospeak the local languages and applies that during training sessions.The selection process was effective. There was flexibility in the process, which has beenappreciated by applicants because there were combination of different youth fromdifferent backgrounds to share experiences and skills. The selection process is adequateoverall.The mandatory internship program embarked by the project target group almost made thisexercise inconclusive. It was so difficult reaching youth for project monitoring during thisperiod which lasted for months. Greater effort could be made to include this internshipprogram in subsequent program design.Another barrier to the program has been the age limit used to define youth entrepreneurs.Many find that the upper age limit should be expanded (e.g. from 29 to 35 years) to better86