Put 1 Million Young Nigerians to Work in SMEs

Nigeria's formal internship and work placement schemes (SIWES, NYSC) cover a small fraction of the 20 million young Nigerians not in employment, education, or training. Most SMEs — which collectively employ the majority of Nigerian workers — have never taken on a formal intern because the process is too complicated and the liability unclear. Meanwhile, youth unemployment is both a human tragedy and a structural economic drag. Your challenge is to design a structured internship matching scheme that connects young Nigerians aged 18 to 25 with small and medium businesses looking for affordable, trained short-term help. The scheme must handle screening, matching, a basic training component, payment (minimum ₦25,000 per month stipend), and legal protection for both parties. It must be self-sustaining at scale without continuous government funding. Submit a programme design document (max 12 pages) including: the matching algorithm and criteria, training design, SME onboarding and legal framework, stipend structure and who pays, how quality is maintained, fraud and abuse prevention, and a plan to match 100,000 placements in the first year. Judging criteria: 35% matching and training design quality, 30% SME onboarding and legal framework, 20% financial sustainability model, 15% fraud prevention and quality assurance.