WorldStage– The MTN Foundation has trained over 2,000 young Nigerians in digital and business skills under its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Skills and Training Programme.
Speaking on the programme in a statement, the Executive Director of the MTN Foundation, Mrs Odunayo Sanya, said the initiative was designed to equip young entrepreneurs with skills relevant to their business needs.
Sanya said that small businesses were the backbone of the economy and supporting young entrepreneurs with simple digital tools could improve productivity and long-term growth.
She said the training, which was the seventh cohort, focused on helping Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt digital tools to improve productivity and sustainability.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), SMEs account for over 90 per cent of businesses in Nigeria and employ a large proportion of the country’s workforce.
The foundation said the programme followed a call for applications in September 2025 that attracted over 5,000 entries from Nigerians aged between 18 and 35 years.
Sanya said that selected participants were currently undergoing a five-week virtual training programme, which would end in February 2026.
She said that the training commenced with a general onboarding session for participants across four business tracks and was focused on practical digital growth for small businesses.
According to her, participants were drawn from sectors such as food services, fashion, retail, logistics, beauty and printing.
Sanya said they were trained on the use of affordable digital tools suitable for small and early-stage enterprises.
The programme, the Foundation’s boss noted, also emphasised gradual digital transformation, encouraging participants to digitise basic operations and scale up over time.
She said that the sessions were facilitated by a Business Analyst and Digital Transformation Expert, Mr Babajide Jolaolu-Kehinde.
Jolaolu-Kehinde said that automating repetitive tasks could help small businesses save time, reduce errors and improve efficiency.
He introduced tools such as WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business for customer engagement, as well as MTN’s MoMo API for digital payments.
Presenting case studies during the training, Jolaolu-kehinde showed how digital tools could help small businesses expand their customer base and increase sales.
The foundation added that participants would continue to access learning materials and recorded sessions throughout the duration of the programme.
