By Emmanuel Uffot
International Breweries Plc has doled out a total of N60 million to 50 young entrepreneurs that were chosen across the country in this year’s edition of its entrepreneurial grant.
The gesture which is the 7th edition was carried out through Kickstart, an arm of International Breweries Foundation which is the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the International Breweries.
At the event which took place in Lagos, the outgoing Managing Director of International Breweries Hugo Rocha said the idea behind the Kickstart entrepreneurial was to raise entrepreneurs with thriving businesses to become employers of labour themselves so that they consequently serve as agents to take other people out of employment.
” The idea behind the Kickstart is to raise entrepreneurs with thriving businesses who will become employers of labour themselves, thereby acting as agents for taking other people out unemployment market in the country”.
Richard said the success story of the CSR venture recorded over the years since the inception of the entrepreneurship grants up-to-date has serve as an inspiration to Kickstart to do more by contributing to alleviation of poverty, decent work and economic growth.
Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman Advisory Board of International Breweries Foundation Peter Bankole, said their vision is to make Kickstart a nursery of innovation in business which will plant, nurture and transfer training, grants and mentoring. ” We envision that kickstart will be the nursery of innovation in business where we plant, nurture and transfer through training, grants and mentoring”.
In his goodwill message the Vice- President Professor Yemi Osibanjo who was represented by Senator Babafemi Ojudu commended the Brewing giant through its CSR for the gesture and enjoined the beneficiaries to make good use of the Corporate Social Responsibility venture of Kickstart, given the fact that such entrepreneurial activities like that of Kickstart is what can make Nigeria become great.
He noted that there was a limit to the jobs the government and its agencies can provide, as such the opportunities provided by the arm of International Breweries Foundation, Kickstart is what is needed as a platform to engage the youths through the collaboration of the private sector and government. ” There is a limit to the jobs the government and its agencies can provide. Our youths can only be engaged through collaboration of the private sector and the government to empower them for wealth creation and nation building “.
The keynote speaker at the event Affiong Williams who is Chief Executive Officer of Reel Front relayed her experience with the successful Kickstart entrepreneurs over the years.” It was an opportunity like this provided by Kickstart that motivated me to build my business and today, we have our products in over 800 stores across the country and I will be launching my new factory next year in Ogun State, the largest of its kind in Abeokuta”.
Babatunde Adebayo who won the grand prize of N3 million expressed joy for being the grand prize winner, he noted that the grant will enable his company eco- circular solutions provider to automate the process of converting materials into building such as ” eco- ceiling tiles which are made from wastepaper, rubber and plastics among others”.
He said his company has been doing that manually, but with the timely grant, they will be able to increase their production capacity and also employ more hands which will invariably take more youths out of the unemployment market.
Other management staff of International Breweries Plc who were at the event included the Director of Corporate Affairs Mrs Tope Oguntokun.
The Kickstart entrepreneurial grant initiative which began seven years is said to have recorded 1608 beneficiaries.
The process for this year’s edition began with the shortlisting of 400 young entrepreneurs to proceed to the online training phase based on their innovative ideas, economies of scale and opportunities to create jobs. 70 entrepreneurs emerged from that phase and proceeded to the boot camp phase which eventually culminated into 50 been finally selected as awardees following a keenly contested pitch for capital.
International Breweries Plc began production in December 1978 with its flagship lager beer Trophy with an installed capacity of 200,000 hectolitres per annum.
It became a Public Limited Liability Company in April 1994 after being listed in the Nigerian Stocks Exchange.
The Brewing giant recorded N1.9billion profit after tax in first quarter of this year dated March 31, 2022 while its revenue within that period also grew to N52.7 billion representing 47.6 percent increase from N38.96 billion recorded within the same period in 2021.
Some of the malt and alcoholic beverages produce by International Breweries include, Trophy lager beer, Hero lager beer, Eagle lager, Eagle Stout, Budweiser lager beer, Trophy Extra Stout which is its new product and Betamalt.
The Board of International Breweries Plc recently approved the appointment of Carlos Coutino as the new Managing Director of company following the resignation of Hugo Rocha from that position and equally appointed David Tomlinson as the new Finance Director with effect from January 1, 2023. He will take over from Eduardo Caceres who also resigned recently from the Board.
