NIHOTOUR to Roll-out Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship Programme for Youths and Women Across Nigeria

All is set for the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) to commence an innovative training programme for economic empowerment of youths and women residents in tourist host communities across Nigeria.

The Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) is an innovative training and empowerment program on Tourism and Hospitality small business start-ups and sustainable operations of small businesses in rural tourist host communities and major cities across the country’s six-geopolitical zones where NIHOTOUR already has campuses and training centres.

In a statement the Director General, of NIHOTOUR, Alhaji Nura Sani Kangiwa notes that the STEP project is targeted at young girls and women who are single, married or widowed, vulnerable youths who are either orphans, abandoned or school drop-outs, physically challenged persons, internally displaced persons, and unemployed graduates of tertiary institutions, as well as, skilled youths with post primary school education in Nigeria.

It further states that the training which will be delivered free of charge to participants and graduates of the programme will be given starter-packs to immediately start their own business will be formally inaugrated in Lagos in November.

STEP program is novel and designed to train, equip and mentor trainees on hands-on skills and entrepreneurial capabilities for successful operation of small businesses (start-ups) in the Tourism industry value-chain such as Cookery, Pastry, Confectionery, Tour Operation, Tour Guiding, and Travel Agency – flight ticketing and hotel reservations and would include students’ ‘study-to-work’ job placements and supervised Mentoring systems, in-partnership with Tourism and allied private-sector organisations.

Chioma Ezike.