Some winners of the Youth Enterprise with Innovation (YOUWIN) awards under the umbrella of National Forum of YOUWIN Beneficiaries (NAFOYOB) have commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the appointment of Dr Olasupo Olusi as the MD/CEO, Bank of Industry (BOI).
Olusi, a Senior Economist with the World Bank, was National Coordinator of the highly successful business plan program which was conceived by the Federal Ministry of Finance under former Finance Minister, now DG World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Commending Tinubu for finding Olusi worthy and suitable for the job, they urged the newly appointed BOI MD to strengthen the institution to do more to bridge the unemployment gap in Nigeria through providing financing opportunities to entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria.
The YOUWIN programme supported over 8000 Nigerian youths across the country with opportunities to start and grow their own businesses in different sectors of the economy.
Alumni of the program, considered one of the best structured and impactful public sector interventions in youth empowerment in the country’s history, have created hundreds of thousands of jobs including multi-million Naira ventures in agribusiness and other areas.
In the statement signed by a representative of the group Jamilu Abdussalam, the group stated:
“We celebrate with Dr. Supo on his appointment as the MD of Bank of Industry. His competency to deliver on this new task is unquestionable. We enjoin him to continue with his approach to projects like Youwin that was free of any form of nepotism and favoritism but to provide equal opportunities to all Nigerians that prove innovative.”
The awardees expressed their confidence in Olusi’s abilities based on his key role in YOUWIN which has “provided millions of Nigerian youth with opportunities to excel in different businesses in sectors, some of whom are now owners of ventures that worth tenth of millions and some in billions.”
“A lot of us who benefited from the project coordinated by Dr Olusi are now employers of labor across different sectors. We are confident that he will create more financing opportunities for young Nigerians.
