For many young Nigerians, growing up comes with a difficult question: what next? After years of schooling, the search for a job can be frustrating. For those who want to start a business, limited access to finance, mentorship, equipment and the right skills can make the journey even harder.
Across the country, young people are looking for opportunities to build meaningful lives, support their families and contribute to society. They have ideas, energy and ambition, but ambition alone is not always enough. They also need access to the knowledge, resources and support that can help turn their dreams into reality.
This is why youth empowerment must go beyond motivational speeches and promises. It must create practical opportunities for young people to learn, earn, develop their abilities and become active contributors to the economy.
For Nestlé Nigeria, youth development has become an important part of its community investment and shared value efforts. Through different programmes and partnerships, the company has continued to support young people in education, technical and vocational training, entrepreneurship, employability and personal development.
These initiatives recognise that young people do not all need the same kind of support. While some need help to complete their education, others need practical skills to secure employment. Some have business ideas but lack the training and guidance to build them, while others need access to mentors who can help them understand the opportunities and challenges ahead.
By supporting these different pathways, Nestlé Nigeria is seeking to help young people move from potential to opportunity.
Building skills for a changing world of work
One of the major challenges facing young Nigerians is the gap between formal education and the skills required in the workplace. A university or college qualification can provide a strong foundation, but many employers also look for practical experience, technical knowledge and the ability to solve real problems.
Nestlé Nigeria’s Technical Training Programme is one of the company’s efforts to address this challenge.
Established in 2011 at its Agbara factory in Ogun State, the programme provides young Nigerians with practical and theoretical training in engineering and manufacturing. It combines classroom learning with hands-on experience, giving participants the opportunity to understand how industrial equipment and production systems work.
The programme has since expanded to three locations: Agbara, Flowergate in Sagamu and Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory. It offers an 18-month training curriculum and prepares participants for internationally recognised City & Guilds certification.
In April 2026, Nestlé Nigeria marked another milestone when 20 young people graduated from its Flowergate Technical Training Centre. A similar graduation ceremony followed at the Abaji centre in May.
According to reports on the programme, more than 300 young Nigerians have received training across the three centres since its establishment. The company has also reported that 98 per cent of its technical training graduates have secured employment within Nestlé Nigeria.
For the graduates, the value of the programme goes beyond receiving a certificate. It gives them practical knowledge, workplace experience and an opportunity to build careers in a field where skilled professionals are needed.
The experience of Dolapo Adedoyin Okunola, a graduate of the programme, illustrates this opportunity. In a report published by Nestlé in December 2024, she spoke about working on projects involving energy efficiency and machine validation, as well as the opportunity to undertake an eight-week internship at Nestlé’s technical sites in Switzerland.
Her experience shows how technical training can expose young people to new working environments, international experience and practical responsibilities.
The programme is also part of a wider commitment to youth employability under Nestlé Needs YOUth, the company’s global initiative aimed at helping 10 million young people access economic opportunities by 2030.
While technical training is important, it is only one part of the wider skills development challenge. Young people also need opportunities to understand the world of work, develop professional confidence and learn how to compete in an increasingly demanding employment market.
Preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship
Beyond technical training, Nestlé Nigeria is involved in the Alliance for Youth Nigeria, a business-driven partnership established to improve young people’s access to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
The Alliance brings together organisations that recognise the need to prepare young people for the future of work. Through its activities, it supports work-readiness training, internships, mentoring and entrepreneurship development.
According to Nestlé Nigeria’s 2025 Annual Report, the Alliance empowered more than 585 young people in 2025 through employability and entrepreneurial training, internships and mentoring opportunities.
The Alliance also provided start-up kits to top-performing participants in vocational skills training in Jos, Plateau State. This support is particularly important because completing vocational training does not automatically mean a young person has the resources to establish a business.
For someone learning a trade, access to basic equipment can make the difference between having a skill and being able to use that skill to earn a living. By providing start-up kits, the initiative seeks to help selected participants take the next step towards self-employment.
The Alliance celebrated four years of partnership in 2025, reporting that it had reached more than 25,000 young Nigerians since its establishment.
Its work reflects an important understanding of youth empowerment: preparing young people for employment should not be limited to teaching them how to apply for jobs. It should also help them recognise business opportunities, develop useful skills and become confident enough to create opportunities for themselves and others.
Turning business ideas into opportunities
For many young Nigerians, entrepreneurship offers another route to economic independence. However, starting and sustaining a business can be difficult, particularly for those who lack business knowledge, mentorship and access to support.
Nestlé Nigeria has supported youth entrepreneurship through its partnership with the Activate Success International Foundation (ASIF), which focuses on helping young people develop business ideas and entrepreneurial skills.
The partnership has been associated with the National Youth Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Summit, popularly known as YEEP. The summit provides a platform for young entrepreneurs, business leaders, development organisations and other stakeholders to discuss opportunities, share experiences and encourage innovation.
At the 2026 edition of YEEP in Abuja, Nestlé Nigeria and ASIF renewed their partnership, reaffirming their commitment to supporting young Nigerians in turning ideas into sustainable businesses.
The summit, themed around entrepreneurship, innovation, courage and impact, brought attention to the importance of creating an environment where young people can develop solutions to real problems.
The message is important. A young person with a business idea may not necessarily need someone to tell them to work harder. They may need guidance on how to understand their market, manage money, attract customers, build a business model and make decisions that can keep the business running.
Through partnerships such as this, the focus is on strengthening the support available to young entrepreneurs and encouraging them to see business creation as a practical path to development.
However, the real measure of such programmes is not simply the number of people who attend a summit or participate in a workshop. It is whether they leave with useful knowledge, build viable businesses, create jobs and continue to grow after the programme has ended.
That is the kind of long-term impact youth entrepreneurship initiatives should seek to achieve.
Supporting young people to build their own businesses
Another example of Nestlé’s youth entrepreneurship efforts is its My Own Business (MYOWBU) initiative, implemented through Nestlé Professional.
The programme supports young people who operate mobile beverage businesses, providing them with branded vending equipment, business support and opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
For many people, street vending may appear to be a small business activity. But for those involved, it can provide an opportunity to earn an income, gain business experience and work towards greater financial independence.
In June 2025, Nestlé Professional organised a workshop in Lagos to train more than 300 MYOWBU operators and attendants. The training was aimed at strengthening their business knowledge and improving their ability to manage their operations.
The company has reported that the initiative has created more than 1,500 employment opportunities across Nigeria.
The programme has also produced stories of participants who have moved beyond their initial roles. One of them, Joseph Abraham, shared how he progressed from operating a pushcart to becoming a Nestlé distributor.
Another participant, Adeosun Michael, who was recognised as a long-serving MYOWBU operator, spoke about how the opportunity helped him build a home and provide for his family.
Their experiences offer a useful picture of what entrepreneurship support can mean. A business opportunity can become more than a way to earn daily income. With consistency, the right support and room to grow, it can provide a foundation for a more secure future.
MYOWBU also demonstrates that youth empowerment does not always have to begin with a large business idea or substantial investment. Sometimes, it starts with access to equipment, practical training and an opportunity to participate in an existing business value chain.
Education as a foundation for future opportunities
For young people to benefit from employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, they must first have access to education.
Unfortunately, financial difficulties remain a major challenge for many families. School fees, accommodation, books, uniforms and other educational expenses can place pressure on households and make it difficult for some students to continue their studies.
Nestlé Nigeria’s Community Scholarship Scheme seeks to address part of this challenge by providing financial support to eligible students in communities around its operations.
Launched in 2020, the scheme supports students in senior secondary and tertiary institutions, particularly those from communities around the company’s operations in Agbara, Sagamu and Owode in Ogun State, as well as Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory.
According to the company’s 2024 Annual Report, 65 new students received scholarships in 2024, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 179 at the time.
The support covers important educational expenses, including tuition, accommodation, uniforms and books. For families facing financial pressure, this assistance can help reduce the burden of keeping a child in school.
One of the beneficiaries, Adeyemi Gbenga Daniel, a tertiary student studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos, described the scholarship as an opportunity that helped him pursue his academic ambitions.
The importance of such support goes beyond the immediate financial assistance. Education gives young people the foundation to develop their abilities, explore career opportunities and contribute to their communities.
By supporting students at different stages of their education, the scholarship scheme forms another part of Nestlé Nigeria’s wider youth development efforts.
Developing confidence, leadership and the right values
Youth development is not only about academic qualifications, technical knowledge or the ability to earn money. It also involves building the confidence, values and leadership skills that help young people make responsible decisions and contribute positively to society.
This is the thinking behind youth mentoring initiatives supported by Nestlé Nigeria.
Through its collaboration with REVAMP Africa, the company has participated in a Youth Leadership Mentoring Programme designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to navigate an increasingly complex world.
Nestlé Nigeria’s 2023 sustainability report recorded that about 280 employee volunteers, including the company’s managing director and chief executive officer, mentored more than 12,000 students across 23 public secondary schools.
The programme focused on developing positive values, leadership abilities and personal skills among young people.
The involvement of working professionals also creates an opportunity for students to learn from people with practical experience in different fields. They can gain a better understanding of workplace expectations, career choices and the importance of discipline, teamwork and continuous learning.
For a secondary school student who is still trying to understand what the future may hold, meeting and learning from professionals can help make career possibilities feel more real.
Such programmes are important because young people need more than technical competence to succeed. They also need the confidence to communicate, the discipline to pursue their goals and the ability to work with others.
A wider contribution to Nigeria’s future
The different youth development initiatives supported by Nestlé Nigeria point to a broader understanding of what it means to empower young people.
Education helps them acquire knowledge. Technical and vocational training prepares them for skilled work. Employability programmes help them understand the demands of the workplace. Entrepreneurship initiatives encourage them to create businesses, while mentoring helps develop the confidence and values needed to make responsible decisions.
These areas are connected. A young person who receives educational support may later benefit from technical training. Someone who develops a practical skill may use it to secure employment or establish a business. Another may receive mentoring that helps them identify a career path they had not previously considered.
This is why youth empowerment should not be viewed as a single programme or a one-time intervention. It is a process that requires sustained investment, access to opportunities and support at different stages of a young person’s development.
Nigeria’s young population represents an important resource for the country’s future. But this potential can only be fully realised when young people have access to quality education, relevant skills, decent work and an environment that supports enterprise and innovation.
The private sector has an important role to play in this process. Businesses can contribute by sharing knowledge, providing practical training, supporting entrepreneurship and working with government, educational institutions and development organisations to expand opportunities.
Nestlé Nigeria’s programmes provide examples of how a company can contribute to this effort through different forms of support. The reported reach of these initiatives is encouraging, but their lasting value will depend on what happens to beneficiaries after they complete the programmes.
How many secure meaningful employment? How many establish businesses that remain sustainable? How many progress in their education or become mentors to others? These are important questions for measuring the true impact of youth empowerment.
They also point to the need for continued monitoring, transparent reporting and stronger partnerships that can help successful initiatives reach more young people.
Creating opportunities that last
For a young Nigerian, empowerment is not simply being told that the future is bright. It is having the opportunity to build that future through education, practical skills, access to resources and the confidence to pursue a chosen path.
It is the student who can remain in school because of financial support. It is the trainee who acquires a skill that opens a door to employment. It is the young entrepreneur who receives the guidance and equipment needed to start a business. It is the young person who meets a mentor and begins to see new possibilities for their life.
These experiences may begin in different ways, but they share a common purpose: helping young people become more capable of shaping their own futures.
As Nigeria continues to confront unemployment, economic pressure and the need for a more skilled workforce, investments in youth development remain important. No single organisation can solve all these challenges, but sustained contributions from businesses, government, communities and development partners can help expand the opportunities available to young people.
Through its work in education, skills development, employability, entrepreneurship and mentoring, Nestlé Nigeria is contributing to this wider effort.
Ultimately, the success of youth empowerment should not be measured only by the number of programmes launched or participants reached. It should be seen in the opportunities young people gain, the lives they are able to build and the positive contributions they make to their families, communities and the country.
The real goal is not simply to prepare young Nigerians for tomorrow. It is to give them the tools and opportunities to take part in creating it.
