On October 22, 2022, the AUN Center for Entrepreneurship organized a one-day training on micro-entrepreneurship skills for fifty women entrepreneurs selected from various communities in Yola.
The Field Offshore Design Engineering Limited (FODE) provided funding for the women's micro-entrepreneur training program. The program, which was proposed and endorsed by Prof. Attahir Yusuf, the interim president of the American University of Nigeria, aims to equip fifty female entrepreneurs from Adamawa State with the soft skills and requisite knowledge they require to improve their businesses, create more jobs and contribute to wealth creation, as well as raise the state's gross domestic product (GDP).
President Attahir, represented by the Dean of SBE, Professor Leo Ukpong, noted that the program is beginning with women leaders who are already in business and that it would be expanded to include additional categories of beneficiaries in the future. "Naturally, women are better businesspeople than men; the most difficult thing in the world is to create a family to raise children from birth to adults," he remarked, explaining why women entrepreneurs were chosen as the first beneficiaries. “And every day, women do it, although it requires a lot of patience, risk-taking, and forethought”.
He also mentioned that data shows that women control between 70 and 80 percent of microeconomic businesses in Adamawa State.
"All we want is for Adamawa State's economy to thrive, and if it requires women to drive it, so be it". He also acknowledged and lauded the founder of the university, HE Atiku Abubakar, who had envisioned AUN from the beginning as a development university that would be a leader in entrepreneurship education.
Ushering in the lecture series, the Chair of the AUN Center for Entrepreneurship, Prof. Abdulsalam Jibril said, "we see women as a group that thinks very fast because they initiate, organize, operate, and manage their businesses."
Prof. Jibril urged the women participants to take advantage of the information and skills that the AUN faculty and other program facilitators will share. After providing a brief background of FODE, the program's sponsor, he explained that the training would include an interactive session to address any concerns that participants may have and that a certificate of participation will be given upon completion of the course.
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The training was full of insightful and educative sessions, fun and engaging; it had six speakers speaking in Hausa and English Languages for better comprehension. A motivational speaker and entrepreneur, Mrs. Sarah Terry encouraged the women never to undermine their little beginning as what starts small, with prudence and consistency, will surely grow. Dr. M. A. Mahmoud spoke on the topic "Entrepreneurial Mindset, Opportunity Recognition. Dr. H. I. Mohammed spoke on Feasibility Analysis and Business Plan Development. A faculty and Ph.D. student in SBE, Ms. Aisha I. Hammani spoke on Sources of Financing, Bookkeeping, and Basic Financial Calculations. Prof. I. Danjuma on Business Legal Structure Forms of Business Ownership, Marketing Management and Dr. Abubakar Ahmed spoke on Intellectual Property Rights.
Reported by John Abah