17/08/2026
A HEARTFELT APPRECIATION TO THE KANO STATE GOVERNMENT & NIPSS
We give all glory, praise and gratitude to Almighty Allah for His grace, guidance and the opportunity to contribute to this important national discourse.
We are also deeply honoured and sincerely grateful to the Kano State Government, under the administration of His Excellency, Engr. Abba Kabiru Yusuf, and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), under the leadership of Prof. Ayo Omo Tayo, for recognising the impact of our innovative ENGAUSA® programmes and for the award presented to me as an active stakeholder in the development of Kano State’s Orange Economy, as well as for the opportunity to contribute to this important national discourse.
On 13 August 2026, as scheduled by the Kano State Planning and Reception Committee, I had the privilege of presenting a paper titled “Transforming the Youths through Entrepreneurship Development” to the distinguished participants of Group I of Senior Executive Course 48 (2026) of NIPSS, who were on a Study Tour of Kano State, at the Kano State Government House.
The Study Tour was themed:
“Economic Diversification and National Development: Leveraging the Orange Economy and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Growth in Nigeria.”
The invitation was particularly significant to me because the theme resonates deeply with the work we have been doing at ENGAUSA® Global Tech Hub over the past six years: developing industry-relevant skills, nurturing entrepreneurship, promoting innovation, and creating pathways for young people to participate meaningfully in the digital and creative economy.
A central part of this approach is our use of mother-tongue learning to localise and domesticate digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy, making emerging technologies more accessible, understandable and relevant to underserved communities. We believe that language should not be a barrier to participation in the Orange Economy. Rather, local languages can serve as powerful vehicles for transferring digital and AI knowledge, unlocking indigenous creativity, preserving cultural identity, and enabling more young people to convert their talents and cultural assets into sustainable economic opportunities.
Our experience has demonstrated that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.
Through practical skills development, entrepreneurship training, mentorship, incubation and inclusive access to technology, we have witnessed young people move from unemployment and underemployment to self-employment and, in many cases, to becoming employers of labour.
The ENGAUSA® six-year impact report provides evidence of this journey, recording 9,120 trainees and apprentices trained, over 700 startups and SMEs incubated and accelerated, and 10,978+ jobs created. It also documents the growth of ENGAUSA® from a small cubicle to two large training centres in Kano, alongside an online learning platform, ENGAUSA® Academy, www.EngausaAcademy.com, which enables distance learning and provides access to internationally recognised AI certifications through its collaboration with AI CERTs.
Our training participation also grew remarkably from just 63 participants in 2019 to 3,275 in 2025, driven by expanded course offerings, enhanced teaching methods and referrals from our growing community of beneficiaries.
But for me, the numbers tell only part of the story. The real impact is found in the lives behind those numbers.
We have sufficient and verifiable evidence of these transformations through our ENGAUSA® PODCAST, which features firsthand interviews with successful ENGAUSA® graduates and beneficiaries who share their personal journeys, achievements and entrepreneurial experiences. These interviews are publicly accessible on our YouTube channel, ENGAUSA Hub TV, providing a valuable repository of firsthand testimonies that complement our impact data and documented success stories.
These podcast interviews feature young people who have progressed from unemployment, underemployment, informal livelihoods and social exclusion to becoming skilled professionals, entrepreneurs, employers and self-reliant members of society. They also feature beneficiaries who have successfully combined traditional businesses with digital skills, as well as Almajiris, out-of-school children and persons with disabilities who have acquired technology skills and are now participating meaningfully in the digital economy.
Together, these firsthand accounts provide compelling and verifiable evidence that inclusive skills development is one of the most neglected low-hanging fruits for achieving sustainable socioeconomic development.
This is particularly relevant to the Orange Economy:
Nigeria’s creativity, culture, indigenous knowledge, fashion, food, music, film, photography, design, digital content, crafts and other creative assets are not merely expressions of our identity. They are economic resources capable of generating wealth, employment and sustainable enterprises.
Our experience has shown that when these indigenous talents are combined with digital skills, entrepreneurship and emerging technologies such as AI, young people can transform cultural and creative assets into commercially viable products, services and enterprises.
This is why I believe the Orange Economy should be viewed not simply as a cultural or entertainment sector, but as an important component of human capital development, entrepreneurship, innovation, digital transformation and economic diversification.
The responsibility before us is to create an ecosystem where young Nigerians can identify these opportunities, acquire relevant skills, access technology and markets, protect and commercialise their intellectual property, and build sustainable enterprises.
I was therefore particularly delighted to engage with the distinguished participants of SEC 48, Group I, sharing practical lessons and experiences from the ENGAUSA® model and discussing how entrepreneurship, inclusive skills development, mother-tongue digital and AI literacy, and the creative economy can contribute to Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda.
I sincerely appreciate the Kano State Government for recognising the contribution of stakeholders working to advance the state’s Orange Economy and for creating a platform that brings practitioners, policymakers and strategic leaders together.
I equally commend NIPSS for exposing its participants to practical, home-grown experiences and solutions that can contribute to informed national policy formulation.
The award presented to me is not merely a personal recognition. I receive it on behalf of the entire ENGAUSA® family: our dedicated team, instructors, trainees, apprentices, entrepreneurs, partners and supporters who have contributed to this journey.
It is also a reminder that the work must continue.
We must continue to move:
From certificates to competence.
From competence to entrepreneurship.
From entrepreneurship to job creation.
And from job creation to sustainable national development.
We remain deeply grateful to His Excellency, Engr. Abba Kabiru Yusuf, the Kano State Government, Prof. Ayo Omo Tayo, the leadership of NIPSS, the Kano State Planning and Reception Committee, and the distinguished participants of SEC 48, Group I, for this honour and opportunity.
Together, we can transform Nigeria’s enormous human potential, cultural wealth, creative talent and technological capacity into productive economic capital.
Thank you.
Engr. Mustapha Habu Ringim
Founder & CEO, ENGAUSA® Global Tech Hub Ltd.
Founder, ENGAUSA® Skills Development Foundation (ESDF)
[email protected] 08024621310
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