…Eight-week programme under ITF-NECA TSDP targets weak business positioning and equips owners to communicate value, attract customers and secure investment
By Danjuma Amodu
The Industrial Training Fund, ITF, and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, have trained 30 entrepreneurs to address one of the major obstacles to business growth: the inability to communicate value, attract customers and position ventures for funding.
The eight-week skills and storytelling programme, delivered under the ITF-NECA Technical Skills Development Programme, TSDP, was designed to help business owners move beyond technical and creative abilities to effectively present their products, services and economic contributions.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony in Abuja, Executive Director of Mswitch Creative Hub and M-Search Media, Zainab Salami, said the training was conceived after organisers identified storytelling and business positioning as persistent challenges among entrepreneurs. She noted that many business owners have viable products and services but struggle to explain their value to customers, clients and potential investors, limiting their ability to grow and secure funding.
“When we were picking the participants, we wanted to make sure that we picked business owners. And we know that one issue they had was telling their stories and positioning themselves for customers, for clients and also for funding,” Salami said. “We wanted to make sure that they were able to position themselves, also talk about their value, talk about how they are also creating impact for the economy and make sure that they are able to tell their stories and become better storytellers that can improve Nigerian economic value basically.”
Salami disclosed that the training featured mentors from Nigeria, the United Kingdom and South Africa who provided practical frameworks on storytelling and business development. Finance experts, including PhD holders, also helped participants understand how businesses could combine profitability with value creation and wider economic impact. “We had mentors across board. We had mentors from United Kingdom, we had from South Africa that were experts in storytelling and they were able to give them practical frameworks for them to be able to properly articulate what they were doing, their businesses,” she said. “We even had people from finance, PhD holders from finance that they were able to let them understand how your business can create impact, make profits and also provide value.”
According to her, 100 applications were received but only 30 participants were selected to preserve the specialised nature of the programme and ensure beneficiaries received adequate attention and practical guidance.
Representing the ITF-NECA TSDP, Training Manager at the ITF Modern Skills Training Centre, Abuja, Hayatu Abubakar Tamgol, said the initiative forms part of efforts to build a pool of skilled Nigerians capable of contributing meaningfully to the economy. He explained that ITF’s mandate is to encourage skills acquisition within the nation’s industry and commerce and to develop indigenous manpower sufficient to meet the changing needs of the economy. “And in order to do that, the ITF needs to develop competencies and capabilities of Nigerians so as to have an adequate pool of Nigerians that are capable to manage the nation’s economy,” Tamgol said.
He added that the organisation’s participation was aimed at ensuring that skills acquired by youths and entrepreneurs translate into employment, self-reliance and economic development. Expressing satisfaction with the outcome, he said: “I’m coming in at the graduation time, and from what I have seen, and from the success stories that these trainees were able to share, I’m very satisfied that learning has taken place here.”
Tamgol also disclosed that ITF, under the leadership of its Director-General, is implementing its flagship Skills of Artisans programme nationwide to provide Nigerians with opportunities to acquire practical skills for self-employment and livelihood.
For one of the beneficiaries, the training offered a new understanding of the importance of deliberately communicating her personal and business journey. “Because one of the things we learn in class is, if you don’t tell your story, somebody will tell it for you and they will tell it wrongly,” she said. “One thing that I’ve learned is that no matter how good you are as a creative, if nobody knows you, it’s like a waste. For me now, learning the story now, I’m not just being a creative, I’m able to let people know what I do and my vision as a whole.”
The programme reflects a growing recognition that business survival depends not only on the quality of a product or service but also on the ability of entrepreneurs to make their ventures visible, credible and attractive to the market.
