Since our inception, the promotion of Entrepreneurship has been one of SAID Nigeria’s focus areas. Many people have been supported on their journey to building a profitable business. The success of this Program has led to the bulding of Maria Magdalena Entreprenuership Centre in Alike Ikenanzizi, Obowo, a facilty that serves as the school of entrepreneurship for different levels of people. It caters for the teaming university graduates in Nigeria who are unemployed and not prepared for what businesses need; for those young people who dropped out of school and thirdly for the promotion of entreprenuership in primary and secondary schools.
There are millions of Nigerian graduates roaming the towns and cities unemployed. Many of these graduates have business ideas that could be realized with some innovative help. The program helps Nigerians with business concepts to develop them into full business plans, provide a place for internship and help them start their own businesses. We take entrepreneurship so much needed in Nigeria one step further. We shall be helping encourage a culture of innovation and social entrepreneurship in Nigeria. There is tremendous lack of practicality in what students are taught in our universities in Nigeria.
Social entrepreneurs accelerate their businesses so their innovative ideas turn into high-impact solutions to the world‘s social and environmental challlenges. Today, there is a meeting of business and development. Nonprofit organisations are increasingly being seen as an important part of the business ecosystem. We think globally and act locally. Our resource persons are both based in Europe and Nigeria and are themselves successful business women and men. Internship could be arranged in Europe or Nigeria.
Within LEAP, we run our Access To Basic Education Program (ABE), which is otherwise known as BACK TO SCHOOL Program.
Ikenanzizi, Obowo, Imo State
The Maria Magdalena Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Centre, established by SpringAid International Development (SAID) Nigeria, is a community-based initiative designed to help poor, unemployed, and marginalized women, girls, and youths develop the skills, resources, and confidence needed to build sustainable livelihoods.
The Centre was created in response to the growing challenges of poverty and unemployment, particularly among vulnerable families where women and young people increasingly carry the responsibility of providing for their households.
Through entrepreneurship education, mentorship, enterprise development, financial literacy, and access to seed grants, the Centre seeks to help participants move from vulnerability to sustainable economic independence.
The Centre adopts the Poverty Graduation Model (PGM), a structured approach that supports people living in extreme poverty to develop skills, establish businesses, access resources, and gradually build sustainable livelihoods.
The program is delivered through three main components:
Entrepreneurship Training: Participants learn creative thinking, business idea development, feasibility studies, business planning, market research, marketing, budgeting, accounting, financial literacy, and small-business management.
Seed Grants: Successful beneficiaries may receive seed grants to help them establish or grow their businesses.
Mentorship and Trust Groups: Participants receive up to one year of mentorship after starting their businesses. Trust Groups also encourage savings, provide access to small credits, and can support members seeking loans from conventional financial institutions.
The program also encourages teamwork, peer learning, and the development of individual action plans to guide participants after completing their training.
The Centre aims to:
Train, mentor, and support poor, unemployed, and marginalized women, girls, and youths to establish and manage small businesses.
Develop entrepreneurial mindsets among young people, including secondary school students in rural communities.
Promote financial literacy, creativity, innovation, and leadership.
Create pathways to self-employment and sustainable livelihoods.
Support vulnerable children in returning to and completing their education.
The Centre’s core program focuses on entrepreneurship mindset development, small enterprise creation and management, financial education and literacy, community development, and computer literacy.
This program supports vulnerable and at-risk children through literacy, reading and comprehension activities, counseling and psychosocial support, and child protection initiatives.
Graduates of the program are encouraged to form Trust Groups that promote a culture of saving, provide micro-credit opportunities, support business growth, and strengthen members’ access to formal financial services.
SAID Nigeria has established a dedicated facility for the program at Ikenanzizi, Obowo, Imo State. The Centre includes seminar and classroom spaces, event halls, offices, a library, music studio, kitchen, computer studio, store, and accommodation for visiting facilitators and trainers.
The facility provides a space where women and young people can acquire practical skills, receive mentorship, develop business ideas, and build the foundations for sustainable enterprises.
SpringAid International Development (SAID) is committed to addressing the root causes of poverty through an integrated approach that includes education, entrepreneurship, health promotion and wellbeing, social housing, and micro-grants.
The Maria Magdalena Centre represents this commitment by helping people develop the knowledge, skills, networks, and resources needed to create opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.
The program is designed to be completely free for beneficiaries who successfully pass the screening process and are enrolled at the Centre.
To make this possible, SAID Nigeria is seeking partnerships with companies, organizations, individuals, trainers, mentors, and other stakeholders who can provide financial, technical, professional, or strategic support.
Your partnership can help provide training, mentorship, business resources, seed funding, and other opportunities that enable vulnerable women and young people to build sustainable livelihoods.
Together, we can help transform skills and opportunities into sustainable livelihoods and stronger communities.
Jovita Keshi
Community Engagement Coordinator
+234 802 092 9570
Our Entrepreneurship Development Centre is part of SAID Nigeria Local Access Entrepreneurship Programme (LEAP).
Maria Magdalena Entrepreneurship Development Centre is part of SpringAid International Development’s (SAID Nigeria) Local Access Entrepreneurship Program (LEAP).
