Bosede Edwards

Updated March 2008

Small businesses are a dynamic area of growth in Nigeria today. Encouraged by government-led tax incentives, soft loans and micro credit grants, thousands of new micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have sprung up over the past decade. Despite such promising initiatives, the success of these start-ups is often undermined by a lack of education and business skills.

Realizing a dream

Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria's Rivers State, is one of the centres of the burgeoning MSME activity. Start-ups range from poultry farms to laundry services and cyber cafes. Starting a new business may be a relative breeze, but finding skilled employees is another story. Over 70% of Nigeria's workers are employed in this sector, of which 50% are unskilled, semi-literate or illiterate.

Without proper training, employees often let the business down, explains Bosede, speaking from personal experience. In 1997, she started a dry-cleaning service and discovered how difficult it could be to manage an under-trained team of employees.

This was one experience that led Bosede to enrol in a six-month programme at the FATE Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing employment among Nigerian youth. Upon completion, she decided to create OT Consulting Services. In 2006, she found an office space and soon formed a team of teachers who developed and tested a training programme.

OT Consulting Services will provide three main services: week-long personnel training programmes, six-month training programmes and employer workshops. The programmes will focus on communication skills, interpersonal relations and work-place values. Classes will be conducted in formal English and pigeon English, a widespread means of communication in a region with more than 30 indigenous dialects.

Going places

Bosede hopes to provide opportunities to Nigerian youth. She says, "At the moment, Port Harcourt and the surrounding area are in a state of unrest due to the high level of youth unemployment. We aim to address this issue by providing young adults the training they need to get off the streets and into a profitable venture."

OT Consulting Service is also poised to set an example of female achievement for women across the country. The programme will be employing seven people on a full-time basis, five of whom will be women. Bosede says, "Unemployment is a social plague in Nigeria, as is discrimination against women. We're pushing for industry improvement, social change and gender equality."

In the coming year, Bosede hopes to register the project and set up the training school to get the first students in through the door and learning. She says, "Our language-based curriculum and our team's experience will set us apart from other programmes. We're aiming to become Nigeria's premier consulting service."

"I feel like this is an opportunity to make a real contribution, not just to women and to Africa, but to the world."