Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has said his administration will provide a ₦40 million grant pool for ten outstanding youth-led ventures across the Seed, Growth and Scale categories.

Governor Okpebholo explained that the reason behind the support was to encourage young people to believe in their ideas.

Okpebholo spoke in Benin City at the Edo Youth Impact Forum with the theme “Building Nigeria’s Innovation: Empowering Young People with Technology, Capital and Opportunity”.

Represented by his Deputy, Dennis Idahosa, Governor Okpebholo said there were many brilliant young people with ideas that could become successful businesses, skills that could create jobs and solutions to everyday problems.

He said his administration believed youth empowerment must be about creating opportunities and building an environment where young people have a genuine chance to succeed.

“Today, we are not simply telling young people to believe in their ideas. We are putting resources behind those ideas.

“To those who will emerge as beneficiaries, congratulations. But I want you to see this grant as an opportunity and a vote of confidence in what you are building.

“Your generation has access to technology, information and markets on a scale that previous generations could only imagine. If people could build great businesses with the opportunities available to them then, imagine what your generation can do with the opportunities available to you today.

“Our administration wants to build an Edo State where young people have the opportunity to work, innovate, invest and prosper.

“We recognise that government cannot employ every young person, nor should that be the only ambition we create for our youth. Our responsibility is also to help build an environment where enterprise can grow, investment can thrive, and a young person with a good idea has a fair chance of turning that idea into something meaningful.”

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