One hundred businesses have begun receiving N1 million each in the March 8th Initiative for small businesses organized by the Friends of Prof to celebrate the 63rd birthday of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
In an update on their official Instagram page, Friends of Prof in a series of posts said selected and verified beneficiaries of March 8th Initiatives for Small Businesses have started receiving alerts.
The Friends of Prof said small business owners were invited to apply for a one-off small business grant to celebrate the birthday of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
To enter the competition, prospective small businesses were asked to write a one page proposal on how N1 million would improve their businesses.
The requirements to enter for the competition were that the entrant(s) resides in Nigeria; must be aged between 18 to 35 years and business must be a Nigerian brand.
Of the thousands of small businesses that fulfilled the requirement for the competition 100 businesses were picked. The selected winners are undergoing a verification stage.
The proposals went through two screening phases. The first screening stage was a screening for formal eligibility by a team of independent experts. They screened the applications on the terms and conditions stated on the invitation to apply.
A total of 485 applications scaled through this stage and were eligible for second screening.
The second phased was assessed by a panel of internationally accredited evaluators. They evaluated the proposals based on its substance and awarded marks on the following criteria; innovation, value creation, feasibility, value capture, written composition, clarity.
The final stage of the assessment was overseen by two panelists, Kenneth Amaeshi and Furera Isma Jumare.
Some of the small businesses that were selected are Afrilearn, Twenty Four Seven Courier Services, The EXPO Campus Limited, Red Button, Pearl Casual, Kazahchat School, Nwebe Happy, Norlan Noble, Catfish Farming, Marvis Honey and Axon Recycling.
Others are Albino Rats, Gold Mark Engineering Construction, OyaPrice, Kalibotics, Fembiza International Ventures, My School Express, Springsafe Global Services Limited, Las Gidi Recyclers and Packageo International.
