Here are the highlights of FATE Foundation’s key programs and impact in 2015.
March this year marked 15 years since the establishment of the Foundation. In April, the Board and Staff welcomed Adenike Adeyemi as the new Executive Director and subsequently approved a 3-year Strategic Plan harnessed around the 3 focus areas of Entrepreneurship Education, Enterprise Support and Research & Policy.
In December, we launched our revamped logo and brand identity which represents our continuing commitment to fostering wealth creation by promoting entrepreneurship and enterprise development in Nigeria.
Here are our key highlights in 2015.
Providing Entrepreneurship Education
This year, the FATE School of Entrepreneurship continued to catalyse the Foundation’s mission by providing training and business knowledge to new and aspiring entrepreneurs. We are delighted to be watering the seeds of 35 new startups/businesses by completing 2 Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme (AEP) classes and commencing a new one in November.
As part of our focus on developing and enabling startups in critical growth sectors of the Nigerian economy, we collaborated with Microsoft Nigeria to groom 75 entrepreneurs within the technology space to develop cloud-based businesses. Through a partnership led by the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria, FATE Foundation worked with Reboot to design a special curriculum for health sector focused enterprises and facilitate a rigorous enterprise training Bootcamp for 42 health innovators with ideas and/or businesses focused on solving critical challenges within the Nigerian health space.
Our commitment to exposing Nigerian graduates to entrepreneurship led us to work with the Bank of Industry in partnership with the National Youth Service Corps to train 155 serving Corp members in Lagos and Osun state for the 3-day Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund capacity building programme.
Supporting Enterprise & Alumni Development
Incubation at FATE: We commenced full incubation services for two high potential startups. The first led by Ebrahim Durosinmi, a FATE IVD Alumnus is Aspire Technologies whose flagship product Ujuzi provides real time access to curriculum, resources and other tools for Nigerian tertiary students. The second Incubated business is Peak Performance House whose signature product My Placement Africa links corporate organisations with high-performing tertiary students exploring internship opportunities.
Alumni Meeting: On the 25th of November, about 140 Business men and women from the FATE Alumni community came together for an invigorating meeting. The keynote speech on Thriving in the Nigerian Business Environment was given by Mr. Dipo Davies, CEO/Publisher, RealHouse Communications and a FATE EEP Alumnus.
Enabling MSME Research
Following the launch of a Research Report we commissioned to Agusto & Co to review the current Policy Environment in Nigeria for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), the Foundation developed a 25 page FACT Sheet detailing key elements of the National MSME Policy; showcase learnings from cross-country comparisons; highlight critical factors for Nigerian MSMEs; and outline key MSME policy recommendations for Nigeria.
Promoting Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
We launched our Inaugural Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship on the 3rd of December with the theme “Positioning SMEs for Growth: How to Ensure Nigerian SMEs Thrive Despite Economic Headwinds”.
The panel discussants were Dr. Sarah Alade, Deputy Governor, CBN; Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, Commissioner for Commerce & Industry, Ogun State; Dr. Friday Okpara, SMEDAN, Mrs. Toyin Bakare, Director, SAS Textiles; and Dr. Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, Lagos Business School.
With over 150 stakeholders from the private, public and development space in attendance, the interactive conversations revolved around current monetary, fiscal, tax and regulatory policies and funding intervention programs; their impact on Nigerian MSMEs; and strategies that should be deployed by the government at the federal and sub-national levels to improve policy design and implementation.
Our Sincere Thanks & Appreciation
2015 would not have been possible without the strong dedication and support of the FATE Founder & Chairman, Mr. Fola Adeola along with the commitment of our Board of Directors.
We would also like to acknowledge the institutional support we continue to receive from KPMG Nigeria, Main One Cable, Banwo & Ighodalo and Astral Waters.
As an organisation that is largely driven by Volunteerism, we acknowledge all our Volunteers particularly the 60 Facilitators, Consultants and Mentors who dedicated their time, resources, expertise and experience to our programs and activities in 2015. We would like to mention the following who gave over 6 hours of their time to FATE activities during the year: Mr. Niyi Yusuf, Mr. Ebrahim Durosimi, Ms. Tutu Soleye, Mr. Seye Amusa, Mr. Amobi Okeke, Mr. Pradeep Pahalwani, Mrs. Rosalyn Onalaja, Mrs. Helent Hunt, Mr. Leopold Ebegbuna, Mr. Bayo Adeyemi, Mr. Adetola Adebowale and Mr. Isa Alade.
The economic projections of the coming year have strengthened our resolve to implement ambitious plans which foster the development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria while actively advocating for an improved business environment for our small and growing businesses. We look forward to sharing our impact report with you and wish you all the best in 2016.