Nigeria’s youth unemployment problem cannot be solved by making every youth an employer. Economies where many are employers are inefficient – poor utilization of factors of production. Poverty has not gone in your village even though most are self-employers in farming. Nigeria needs entrepreneurs with scalable visions to create many jobs, not small business owners.

If you read carefully, I made sure I said Entrepreneur, not a small business owner. A freelancer is a SMALL BUSINESS OWNER. I used the word an entrepreneur in the piece. I did not say you need experience to start a small business. I said you need experience to become an Entrepreneur, in NIGERIA.

I have always noted that entrepreneurs are not the same as small business owners. In Oshodi market, even though World Bank would call the market women entrepreneurs [yes, we empowered 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs Last Year in Africa!], I do not – I call them small business owners. The main difference is the scalable advantage which entrepreneurs have unlike small business owners who may run a shop for 30 years with no growth.

Do not fall into the peril of making every Nigerian youth an employer as many advocate here. When many are EMPLOYERS, economies of scale stall, diminishing industrial productivity, with massive negative equilibrium shifts on human welfare. Despite the rants, the best economies with best welfare happen when many are EMPLOYEES with balanced number of employers! Our solution cannot come by making unemployed youth all employers.

By Nnamdi Odumody

In order to speed up the Amazon Prime delivery process to single day delivery, Amazon is expanding its Delivery Service Partner programme which now offers incentives for its employees to start their own logistics service.

Following news of Amazon’s plans to reduce Prime shipping down to one day, the company this morning announced an expansion of its Delivery Service Partner program, which now includes a new incentive that encourages existing Amazon employees to start their own package delivery company. The partner program, first announced last year, includes access to Amazon’s delivery technology, hands-on training and a suite of other discounts for assets and services like vehicle leasing and insurance. For employees, it now includes a $10,000 incentive, too.

The retailer says it will fund startup costs up to $10,000, as well as the equivalent of three months of the former employee’s last gross salary, to give the employees the ability to get their new business off the ground without worrying about a break in pay.

The Amazon Partner Programme which was launched in 2018 includes access to Amazon’s delivery technology, hands on training, and discounts for assets and services like vehicles, insurance, etc.

It will now offer its employees $10,000 and the equivalent of three months of their last gross salary so that they can start their delivery businesses without cash issues. This is as a result of the fact that military vets in 2018 were able to start their own delivery packaging businesses with $10,000.

Amazon will offer delivery vans with its branded logo on lease to its delivery partners as well as other discounts which include fuel, insurance, branded uniforms, etc.

The decision by the e-commerce giant to launch the partner programme was as a result of the fact that its Amazon Flex crowdsourced workforce had issues that affected their earnings. Those issues include fluctuating fuel costs, no insurance cover and other general problems which affect the last mile delivery by logistics companies using smaller vehicles. By growing their fleet to 40 vehicles, the delivery partners could earn as much as $300,000 in annual profits.

As a result of the fact that it has invested heavily in automation of its fulfillment centres which will make most of its employees operating in them to lose their jobs, the decision to empower them through the Amazon Partner programme  which it has committed about $800 million is a strategic redesign aimed at offering its customers same day delivery through its Amazon Prime ecosystem.

Amazon’s Partner Programme is a modified version of the Igbo apprentice scheme where an entrepreneur empowers his former employee who has served him for about seven years with startup capital, and other necessary supports, to take off in the same line of business towards reducing the frictions which exist as well as poverty rate in the locality.

Nigerian FMCGs, Banks and other retail focused businesses can learn from the Amazon Partner Programme as a means of empowering their former employees to start their same line of business, within their ecosystems, fixing business frictions quicker, and creating a win-win for all .