By Olusegun Obisanya
The Group Managing Director, Meristem Securities Limited, Wole Abegunde has disclosed an educational training program strategically designed to expose, educate and drive the business ideas of young people to sustain national growth through a program known as MORE by Meristem.
MORE is an acronym for Meristem Orientation for Rising Entrepreneurs; it is a free-to-use youth-focused investment and entrepreneurship learning platform. According to the organisation, it was carefully designed to empower the dreams of young and ambitious people by giving them access to information, knowledge, and skills that they require to bring them closer to where they want to be financially.
The program also aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial literacy and financial inclusion drive. Also, MORE by Meristem supports the achievement of SDGs 1 (no poverty), 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work and economic growth), and 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).
The GMD was credited in a statement to have said, “The goal for the investment pathway is to improve financial literacy and financial inclusion among young people, as we help to refine, support, and transform their potentials to wealth generation opportunities. The investment pathway provides exposure to the nitty-gritty of investment opportunities, pitfalls, strategy, and practical tips to grow wealth.
“We have carefully curated learning opportunities to equip young people with knowledge and skills to practice wise investing locally and globally, and how to build a wealth portfolio and secure a bright future even for the coming generations. Additionally, we have ensured that our contents are practical, easy-to-understand, and with lots of fun activities to inspire and guide young people’s investment journey.”
With respect to entrepreneurship, Team Lead, Wealth Advisory, Meristem Wealth and Project, Imaobong Asemah said, “We understand that many young people have zeal for starting businesses, but zeal alone is not sufficient to survive the business terrain in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. This is why we have committed extensive resources to developing a training system for young people who want to explore their options in entrepreneurship.”
Speaking about the platform, Lead Coach for MORE, Femi Oladele said, “This platform is interactive, appealing and meets 21st century educational needs of both Gen Zs and Gen Alphas. Our platform features self-paced learning resources, mentoring, and a pitch session, with two specialised tracks – start-up and scale-up. This is an extensive platform providing opportunities for business development laced with many exciting learning options.”
The company noted that they are involved in it because they understand that productive youthful participation in economic activities is a sure way to sustain Nigeria’s national growth trajectory and regional significance. “Also, we believe that the learning activities, mentoring sessions and pitch sessions on the MORE by Meristem platform can potentially stir young people away from counter-productive activities that mar our progress,” the statement added.
To ensure the young people get what they need to survive in their chosen business career, the company maintained that they’ve alined the training with the goals of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) by supporting the entrepreneurial dreams of young people.