The Growth and Employment (GEM) Project, a World Bank Group funded project implemented by the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), has provided technical advice to Office of the Vice-President on the establishment regional Innovation Hubs across Nigeria. GEM project is now inviting proposals from existing private sector operators or non-governmental organizations with innovative, viable and sustainable proposals for the establishment or expansion of Innovation Hubs in the South- East, South West, North-West, North-East or North-Central Zones of Nigeria. The webinar will be presenting key findings of a recently launched report on “catalyzing growth in Nigeria through regional innovation: opportunities and challenges for developing innovation hubs across Nigeria” and discuss the call for proposals for innovation hubs under the innovative market grant window of the GEM project.

The recent social unrest and political uprisings in the Middle East have underscored the perils of high rates of unemployment, especially among youth. Youth unemployment is high in all regions of the world, much higher than adult unemployment as Derek Chen an economist at the World Bank Institute discusses further in his presentation.

Big financial institutions, conglomerates and large-size entities such a big government, big labor unions and the like are usually powerful and pose a systematic risk to the economics of the smaller players in development. Raj Nallari, a manager in Growth and Competitiveness practice at the World Bank Institute discusses the policy options of dealing with large entities in his presentation.