As part of its campaign for financial greatness to young Akwa Ibom entrepreneurs, RHAB-YESS (Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey Youth Entrepreneurship Support Scheme), an initiative of the Speaker of the 7th Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, aimed at discovering, mentoring and supporting small business owners to be self-sustainable, has showcased the first set of its maiden qualifiers.
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, one of the Managers of the scheme, Mr. Godswill Bassey, said “the scheme is for every Akwa Ibom sons and daughters within the state and it is design to complement Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Enterprise Development Drive.”
He explained that the maiden qualifiers, which are three persons per week selected based on a number of carefully-defined criteria including clear business ability and creative virtual documentary of business, are for entries received for the January Edition of the scheme.
Mr. Bassey said there will be a virtual contest every Saturday to avail the public the opportunity to vote for the business owner of their choice via Facebook, emphasizing that “video documentary of each qualifier will be placed on the RHAB-YESS Facebook Page for people to vote for a winner. So we will have one winner per week for three weeks. Three winners will be featured on the last week to determine the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners.”
“Beyond the financial support to small business owners by RHAB-YESS, beyond making our young entrepreneurs to be financially great and self-sustainable, the sponsor of the scheme wish to also identify emerging leaders from the programme, give them the opportunity and groom them to be big business owners in the nearest future,” he further explained.
According to Mr. Bassey, “the scheme is also an opportunity for Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey, who became an entrepreneur at the age of 17 and was renowned for manufacturing and production of goods and services, to holistically assist Akwa Ibom youth to live up to the Dakkada philosophy of Governor Udom Emmanuel.”
“The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners will be given N250,000, N150,000 and N100,000 as financial support to boost their businesses,” added.
He urged interested persons to take advantage of the programme and visit the official website, www.rhabyess.com, follow the online application instructions and submit their entry, which should include“Bio Data (Name, Local Government of Origin, Date of Birth and Educational Qualification), Description of Business/Enterprise, Economic Importance of Business/Enterprise to Akwa Ibom State.”
