ILO and GIZ Launch Business Management Training In Abuja, Nigeria, to Support Employment Prospects of Potential and Return Migrants In Nigeria and Ghana

To promote income earning and employment opportunities among potential and returning migrants, the ILO in collaboration with GIZ organized a two-week Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) training for staff of migration and employment resource centres in Nigeria and Ghana.

Press release | 14 June 2019



Abuja (ILO News): Within the framework of the GIZ-funded project “Initiative for Labour Migration, Employment and Reintegration”, the ILO conducted a training-of-trainers in the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) Programme to support capacities of Migrant Resource Centres in Nigeria, Public Employment Centres in Ghana as well as Nigerian/Ghanaian-German Centres for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration. SIYB is one of the largest business management training programme with a focus on starting and improving small businesses as a strategy for creating more and better employment, particularly in developing economies.

Overall, the Initiative seeks to promote fair and effective labour migration governance frameworks, and enhance employment and income generating opportunities of potential and returning migrants.

Speaking at the launch of the programme, Mr. Dennis Zulu, Director of the ILO-Abuja Office, noted that labour migration remains a feature of contemporary labour markets, which required effective measures at different stages of the migration cycle. The SIYB Programme could help equip clients of resource centres with valuable business development skills.

The training brought together representatives of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in Nigeria and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations in Ghana, as well as advisers of the Nigerian/Ghanaian-German Centres for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration. Trainer candidates had the chance to familiarize themselves with the different modules of the Programme, study the delivery of training and engage with beneficiaries who are engaged in different entrepreneurial activities. After the formal training, participants will now proceed to practice training in a real-life setting. After successful completion of the Programme, candidates will be certified as SIYB trainers and can train entrepreneurs at different levels of business maturity. 

According to Mr. Noruwa Edokpolo, one of the Master Trainers conducting the training, the Programme has proven to be an authentic job creation enabler that can offer hope and enhance the ability of the participants to find sustainable economic opportunities.

Participants expressed satisfaction with the SIYB modules and contents, and one trainer candidate highlighted the potential of the Programme to close capacity gaps.

During the training, the Initiative also kicked-off a review of the demand for and supply of financial services available to (potential) migrant workers and returnees in Abuja, Benin City and Lagos. The review will identify gaps between demand and supply of financial services and provide recommendations on how to improve access of beneficiaries to adapted financial services at all stages of their migration cycle. The study team exchanged with the participants of the SIYB training on the importance of access to finance for enterprise development.