APC CARES Wing
Economic Empowerment Wing
Nigerians are hardworking and enterprising. What many lack is not ambition but access: to skills, to start-up capital, and to markets. The CARES Economic Empowerment Wing helps turn that energy into livelihoods that last.
Who we serve: Unemployed and under-employed youth and adults, market traders, artisans, small business owners, and farmers' and traders' cooperatives.
The Challenge
Across our communities, tailors lack machines, traders lack working capital, and young graduates lack jobs. Many have good business ideas but no way to get them started.
Access to finance remains a major hurdle. Banks require collateral that small businesses often lack, and many people are unaware of the government intervention funds created to help them.
The Economic Empowerment Wing bridges these gaps. We train, fund, organize, and connect so citizens become job creators, not just job seekers.
Our Approach
The Wing follows a simple pathway: train, equip, organize, and connect. No one receives a start-up kit or grant without first completing training, and we track every supported business for at least twelve months.
Flagship Programme
CARES Launchpad: a cohort program that takes beneficiaries from skills training to start-up kit to cooperative membership, with business clinic mentoring along the way.
Programmes
Skills Acquisition: Practical training in trades such as tailoring, catering, hairdressing, welding, solar installation, and phone repair.
Micro-Grants & Start-up Kits: Seed funding and starter equipment that help trained beneficiaries open their own businesses.
Cooperative Formation: Helping traders, artisans, and farmers form cooperatives to buy together, save together, and access credit.
Access to Finance: Guiding small businesses to government intervention funds, grants, and credible lending programs.
Financial Literacy: Training in saving, budgeting, record-keeping, pricing, and managing business money.
Business Clinics: Mentoring sessions where experienced entrepreneurs help small businesses solve real problems.
Key Partners
SMEDAN, Bank of Industry, NDE, ITF, microfinance banks, trade associations, vocational centers, and corporate sponsors.
Safeguards
Grant integrity: awards documented and published to the National Steering Committee.
Kit diversion: kits branded and verified on site.
Debt: beneficiaries linked only to credible, regulated lenders.
The Change We Seek
Picture a young man who completes a CARES solar installation course, receives a start-up kit, and joins a cooperative that helps him access credit. Within a year, he lights up homes in his community and trains two apprentices. That is empowerment that multiplies.
Want to support the Economic Empowerment Wing in your community?