No fewer than 96 beneficiaries of the Delta State Wealth and Job Creation Bureau, trained in electrical installation, welding, fashion and Audiovisual under the Skills Training Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), have been engaged in the Entrepreneurship Business Management Training (EBMT), to further equip them for business success.
Addressing the trainees, the Programme Co-ordinator (STEP) Mr. Onyeisi Nkenchor, pointed out that the training was organized to further expose them to business management and entrepreneurship skills in order to help them succeed in their enterprises.
He disclosed that seasoned resource persons were selected to teach them business skills such as, “How to start and run your business, how to manage your business money, how to grow your business, how to market your product, how to relate well with your customers., how to keep business records and how to cope with business challenges.”
He said the EBMT is the last part of the STEP training programme which comes after the trainees have undergone four other activities namely the Screening/Selection Process, Orientation and Personal Effectiveness Training, Vocational Skills Training and Completion Proficiency Test.
Speaking to journalists, he said: “You will recall that when we enlisted these trainees into the programme, we sent them to where they will get the technical know-how and skills that they needed for their enterprises
“But at the end of that we also realized that technical know-how is not enough. That for them to make a success of their businesses, they actually need business training, for them to be trained as business persons.
“This programme has been running for the past six years, we have been doing this EBMT from the very beginning. It has been part of the essential component of this programme.
“All the people we have trained are doing very well. To a very large extent, I know we have been achieving the purpose for which we set out to achieve.
“We have a total of 96 trainees. In electrical installation, we have 62, while in welding, we have 21, then the other 13 persons are people from fashion and Audiovisual”.
While congratulating them on the successful completion of the various training activities and the Completion Proficiency Test, he advised them to find a shop, set-up and register their businesses immediately after the EBMT and establishment with starter pack.
One of the resource persons, Pastor Afolabi Adun, who took them on how to be successful in business, charged them on integrity, punctuality, speed, noting “but it is better to be slow and get it right than to be fast and mess it up”.
According to him, negotiation skills, decision making skills, risk taking skills are ingredients that differentiates the entrepreneur, saying, “you must have the ability of taking risk, the more risk you take, the more money you make”.
Speaking further, Pastor Adun said: “The only thing worst than failure in life, is not trying at all, charging them on self confidence and determination.
“Life does not give what you desire, life give you what you want, common sense, ability to make the right choices are vital to the success of your business, “you can spend your profit but don’t spend your capital, money management skills, treat the business money separate, record keeping skills, planning skills and customer care skills cannot be neglected, he said.
