Telford Hub target for Nigerian "best practice" research tour
A Nigerian delegation from one of the country's top universities visited Telford Enterprise Hub as a centre of best business practice which was built by UK driver training specialists the TTC Group.
The international study group of 15 representatives from University of Maiduguri was a guest of the University of Wolverhampton Business School to help develop business enterprise and "entrepreneur learning" in Africa.
They targeted Telford Enterprise Hub, opened this Summer by Lord Young, the Government's enterprise advisor and a former Cabinet Minister, who is spearheading a campaign for young people to start their own business in answer to the sharp rise in youth unemployment during the economic recession.
The group arrived at the Telford hub in Hadley Park on the last day of their UK visit for a 90 minute tour of the building built by Shropshire driver training specialists the TTC Group whose business entrepreneur owners Graham and Jenny Wynn have committed £250,000 to the project over the next three years.
Out of work Shropshire youngsters who have a business idea can get help from the Telford hub to start their own business with Government grants also available.
With 35 per cent of Shropshire's 16 to 24-year-olds unemployed, the enterprise hub aims to put new young businesses on the right path with advice and rent free workspace at the new 6,000 sq ft office development built by the TTC Group next to their HQ at Hadley Park East, Telford.
TTC Group chairman Graham Wynn, who campaigns for Shropshire businesses, said: "It is quite exciting how quickly word has spread across the world about what a good idea it is to open a Telford Enterprise Hub to encourage young people to start their own business. The Telford hub only opened this Summer and we are very proud to be backing it. Young people who start their own business will be the employers' of tomorrow."
The University of Maiduguri, which has just taken over a multi-million pound entrepreneurship centre funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria, is keen to explore best practice ideas in the UK and are working in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton Business School, as part of its on-going executive training for academics in Nigerian Universities. The aim is to share UK best practices through a training programme entitled "Developing and Sustaining Best Practices in Entrepreneurship, Enterprise & Management in a University Environment."
As the leading provider of knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP) in the UK, the Dean of the University of Wolverhampton Business School Dr. Anthea Gregory said: Our partnership with the University of Maiduguri offers yet another collaborative platform to transfer our expertise in the area of capacity building, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship education as part of our wider strategy to help both UK and non-UK institutions to empower new start-ups and fight youth unemployment."
The delegation later travelled back to the Telford university campus for an official end to their ten-day British tour.
Foreign students from neighbouring countries including Cameroon and Niger Republic attend the University of Maiduguri, which opened in 1975. The university has 25,000 students studying medicine, agriculture, arts, dentistry, education, engineering, law, management science, pharmacy, social science and veterinary medicine. Its college of medical sciences is in the top five medical schools in Nigeria. Following their visit, the delegation will have more knowledge in effectively managing their multi-million pound entrepreneurship centre.
