By 
The Nigerian government. this week in Abuja, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Konga, Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce giant. The deal will allow thousands of Nigerian youths to be gainfully employed under the Konga Jobs (KJ), a youth empowerment and job creation scheme.
The agreement between the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development and the Konga Group will see Konga deploy its digital assets, huge resources and cutting-edge technology backbone at the disposal of Nigerian youths.
Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, commended Konga as a digital platform with immense capacity to help re-write Nigeria’s unemployment narrative.
Present during the signing ceremony with the minister were the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youths and Sports, Mr. Nebeolisa Anako; Chairman, Konga Group, Leo Stan Ekeh; Co-CEO, Konga Group, Nick Imudia; VP, KongaPay, Isa Aliyushata, as well as other Management staff of Konga and senior officials of the ministry.
‘‘We at the Ministry of Youths and Sports are of the view that public-private partnerships remain the way forward when it comes to the onerous task of creating opportunities for our youths. This belief has come to the fore with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and has also been reinforced by a recent World Bank report.
RELATED Konga Targets One Million Jobs For Nigerians, Other Africans By 2025
‘”We are delighted to have a technology-driven partner such as Konga partnering with us on this programme. Also, we are confident that through this MoU which we have signed today, we will be re-writing the narrative for millions of Nigerian youths who are the beneficiaries of this project,” said the minister.
While lauding the ministry for its proactive zeal in closing the partnership, Mr. Ekeh noted that since its acquisition nearly three years ago, Konga, which pioneered the martketplace structure in Africa in addition to a long list of innovative strategies, has grown immensely beyond expectations of all e-commerce watchers, with the company becoming arguably Africa’s biggest Composite e-commerce platform and the first to hit profitability on the continent.
‘‘Konga is driven by youths. This shows our youths have the capacity to deliver world-class corporates, even with all structural challenges confronting us in the country.’’
Ekeh added that the time is right for Nigerian youths to use their intellectual capital and digital skills to defend the nation and become global citizens. He encouraged Nigerian youths to alter their destinies, while also stressing that their passion in this century must pay their bills.
Also speaking at the event, Imudia, Co-CEO, Konga Group, affirmed that the partnership will afford Konga a chance to create millionaires across Nigeria within a short space of time.
‘‘Konga today provides employment directly and indirectly through partnerships for over 250,000 Nigerians. Through this partnership, we are looking to not only offer more hardworking and ambitious Nigerian youths a chance to earn good money and create wealth; we are also keen to create millionaires who will become their own bosses and employ others. In addition to opportunities which abound in joining our fast-growing database of Konga affiliates and merchants, many more deserving and outstanding youths will also get job opportunities across the multiple entities within the Konga Group.
‘‘We are currently conducting a pilot with the Ministry of Youths and Sports and have taken on board about 350 youths already, many of whom are doing very well. The plan is to have at least one Konga agent in every kindred in Nigeria. But it is pertinent to state that we are also extending our reach across Africa in line with our expansion plans as our target by 2025 is to create jobs for over 500,000 Nigerian youths and over 500,000 for other African youths.
‘‘This is the only way we can rate our success on the African Continent,’’ he disclosed.
