Friday 14 October 2011

Youwin Initiative for youth empowerment in Nigeria

                             What is youwin all about
President Goodluck Jonathan has launched an initiative to support Nigerian entrepreneurs between the age of 18 to 35 years who already own businesses or have strong business plans/idea.


This Programme is a collaboration of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication Technology (CT), and the Ministry of Youth Development that will launch an annual Business Plan Competition (BPC) for aspiring young entrepreneurs in Nigeria, in line with the Federal Government’s drive to create more jobs for Nigerians. The programme will be implemented in partnership with Nigeria’s private sector, who will be requested to provide funding support.

Specific Objectives of the Programme include to:
  • Attract ideas and innovations from young entrepreneurial aspirants from Universities, Polytechnics, Technical colleges, and other post-Secondary institutions in Nigeria;
  • Provide a one time Equity grant for 1,200 selected aspiring entrepreneurs to start or expand their business concepts and mitigate start up risks;
  • Generate 40,000 to 50,000 new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over the three years during which the three cycles will be implemented;
  • Provide business training for up to 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs spread across all geo-political zones in Nigeria;
  • Encourage expansion, specialization and spin-offs of existing businesses in Nigeria; and,
  • Enable young entrepreneurs to access a wide business professional network and improve their visibility.



              • Kindly Note
  • YouWiN is an equity contribution to your business. It is therefore NOT A LOAN but a grant.
  • Award recipients will be paid according to the needs of the business and specific mile-stones stated in the business plan.
  • Award recipients must be registered before disbursment of funds even though they do not need registeration to apply. You/wiN will support the registeration process.
  • Award recipients will opperate accounts using their registered companies, with any of the participating commercial banks prior to disbursment.
  • Award recipients must sign a grant agreement with the managers of YouWin before disbursment of funds. For more details please visit  www.youwin.org.ng
Video Link on the Programme

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Wealth Empowerment: Seeking for Ideas for wealth empowerment

Wealth Empowerment: Seeking for Ideas for wealth empowerment: Do you know that recently, i wonder why graduate with various opportunities are still struggling to get JOB, moving from one place to anoth...

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Wealth Empowerment: Wealth Empowerment: Grasscutter Farming

Wealth Empowerment: Wealth Empowerment: Grasscutter Farming: Wealth Empowerment: Grasscutter Farming : Do you know that you can make a lot of money in farming. Farming is known as one of the best way f...

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Wealth Empowerment: Grasscutter Farming

Wealth Empowerment: Grasscutter Farming: Do you know that you can make a lot of money in farming. Farming is known as one of the best way for wealth Empowerment , which has c...

Grasscutter Farming




Do you know that you can make a lot of money in farming.
Farming is known as one of the best way for wealth Empowerment , which has contributed a lot to the community and the nation as a whole. This has also make's a lot of  people to be self independent, while animal husbandry still remain the best way of farming which is good for both small scale and Large scale farming.


Some of the domesticated animals include Pigs,cattle, sheep,rabbits,chickens and grasscutter etc. while some of this animals can be rears in a grass fields i.e for easy accessibility.


We are going to start with grasscutter,Rabbit, Snail and livestock farming..

If you have experience rearing any of the animals stated above please feel free to share with us.


Also share your challenges while some expert are here to proffer solution to this..


Let keep the forum rolling..and empower others with our ideas & experience


ABOUT GRASSCUTTER
The grass cutter belongs to the order Rodent and family Thryonomidae which contains only genus Thryonomys.Dorst and Dandelete (1979) recognized only two species which they describe as greater grasscutter Thryonomys swinderianus Temminck and the lesser grass cutter Thryonomys gregorianus Temminck. This rodent is widely known through Africa south of Sahara and it is commonly referred as the grass cutter, cane-rat or Cutting grass.
They are heavily built, thick set with animals with rounded muzzle, small round ears, short tails and harsh bristly fur. They have a peculiar bristle tail which readily fractures near the base if seized, much like the easily atomized tail of the lizard, a phenomenon that is of tremendous protective value. The coarse bristly coat has no under-fur, though under magnification some sparsely scattered extremely fine straight under-fur are visible.The overall appearance is usually dark brown, speckled with yellow or grey above butty white below. The chin and throat appear white. The head is a bit small for the size of the body. The small circular ear is covered strong and well padded and are armed with powerful straight claws. There are five digits on the fore feet and four on the hind feet. Females have three pairs of mammary glands on the belly, while the male testes are not visible externally like other rodents.

The total body length (head to end tail) ranged from 35 to 60cm and its tail length ranges from 7 cm to 25cm. Grass cutter grows to a considerable weight. The mature male sometimes reach more than 9kg while females can attain between 5-7kg body weight. Its growth rate is less than that of rabbit of an improved breed and more than that of the local rabbit in a tropical environment. The animal has many predators including leopards, mongoose and python, in addition to man.



MEAT QUALITIES AND USES
The meat qualities of the grass cutter compare favorably with those of domesticated livestock species. Mature live weight ranges from 5 to 8kg. It has an average dressing percentage of 65%. However with the consumption of the head an entrails this can reach 80%. The nutritional value of grass cutter meat is as good as those from domestic animals. Beef, Lamb and pork also contain higher fat percentage than meat from the grass cutter.In fact grass cutter meat is nutritionally superior to some domestic meat because of its high protein to fat ratio and higher mineral contents. The meat quality is also leaner and non-cholestrogenic. The meat is very tasty when compared to both domestic and familiar game species. The grass cutter also play an important role in traditional African medicine for preparation of concoctions for fertility etc. In Ghana, the hair of the grass cutter is used to season food just as much as its stomach and intestinal contents. Also, the pancreas of the grass cutter contains a high concentration of insulin which is used in local preparation for the treatment of diabetes.


GRASS CUTTER HOUSING:
Grass cutter housing comprised of a stable and cages/pens. stable is the main building which houses the cages/pens. It is a normal building constructed in such a way to allow enough light and ventilation (air).The type of material for its construction depends on the capital available to the farmer/breeder. cement block, wood, mud, brick, bamboo etc are some of materials for construction grass cutter house (stable).

Basically there are two rearing methods:
1.Rearing on the floor (floor hutch)
2.Rearing above the floor. (in meshed cages).

Floor hutch is the of rearing cage constructed with either cement block, brick or mud on the floor. Meshed cage on the other hand is the type of rearing cage made from combination of wood and wired-mesh. Both of them however comprised of two compartments which permit easy movement of animal.
They can also be made into two three tiers (layers) system in order to optimize the space.

REPRODUCTION AND BREEDING.
A male and female grass cutters attains their sexual maturity at 5 and 7 months respectively. A male grass cutter can be paired with 3-5 females. There are two methods of mating -permanent and controlled mating methods. The gestation period is 5 months, meaning that with good management, the animal an litter twice in a year.
The average litter size is always four. They young ones can be weaned in about 4-6 weeks, after a resting period of about 10 days mother can be paired with the male again.


HANDLING.
Grass cutter can be handled either by tails or by the limb. For easy handling, wire mesh cage can be used to move animal from one place to other.

FEEDS AND FEEDING OF GRASS CUTTER COLONIES.
Whatever be the choice of grass cutter farming embarked upon by farmer (breeding or fattening), provision of quality and adequate nutrition is essential to the success of each grass cutter rearing. Balanced feeding that
takes into consideration nutritional requirements and regularity of feeding are essential factors responsible for the animals' good growth, health and reproduction.

FEED INGREDIENTS
 
FORAGE
Grass cutters normally prefer grass with succulent stalk and such quality
can be found in the following wild or cultivated grasses among others.
Elephant grass (pennisetum purpureum)
Sugar cane (Saccharum spp)
Guinea grass (Panicum maximum)
Giant star grass(Andropogon gayanus)
Maize stem (zea mays)
Rice stalks (Oryza spp.)
 
FOOD CROP CULTIVATED/PRODUCTS 
Rice
Maize
Guinea Corn
Millet
Cassava
                                                                     VIDEO LINK

                              Cage Designs for both Grasscutter and Rabbit







Wednesday 7 September 2011

Seeking for Ideas for wealth empowerment

Do you know that recently, i wonder why graduate with various opportunities are still struggling to get JOB, moving from one place to another in order to submit their CV's either on-line,through post office or going to various Companies in person.  These Companies claims to have jobs to offer but only have few space that had already been occupied through “Man no Man processes” either for chairman's daughters,relatives or friends,. Which  are published to fulfill Labour Law in the Country.

Am not against searching for job but while doing so one can still engage in seeking for ideas that can actually add value to oneself. This will also enable employed staff of various companies to have a quick and good plan of becoming your own boss while at work

Let Rub mind together. This Blog is mainly for both JOB SEEKER and EMPLOYED for sharing Ideas that can actually make you a Boss of your own, problem encountered stating up a business and what you think that is most profitable business with good Samples,pictures etc.

You are free to discuss any Ideas for New graduate, People that lost their Jobs, etc and proffer solutions to technical problem encountered at the offices,connective ideas etc