Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO Plc) has launched the inaugural Holiday Edition of its renowned GTCO Food & Drink Festival, Africa’s largest culinary event.

The two-day festival is scheduled for December 20 and 21, 2025, at the GTCentre in Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos.

This special edition marks a festive expansion of the annual festival, blending African culinary excellence with family-oriented holiday experiences and support for small businesses.

Unlike previous editions, it shifts focus from chef masterclasses to immersive attractions tailored for the holiday season.

Segun Agbaje, Group Chief Executive Officer of GTCO Plc, highlighted the event’s significance: “The GTCO Food & Drink Festival is a powerful platform that aligns with our mission to fuel enterprise, promote African creativity, and connect communities through meaningful lifestyle experiences.

The Holiday Edition gives us an exciting opportunity to celebrate the festive season while supporting thousands of food entrepreneurs who form the backbone of our economy.”

Record-Breaking SME ParticipationTrue to its commitment to empowering local businesses, GTCO continues its free vendor participation model.

For this edition:

– Over 4,000 applications were received.

– 213 Nigerian-owned food SMEs were selected—nearly double the number from recent editions.

– Vendors will offer diverse, affordable culinary options, providing a high-traffic platform to boost visibility and sales during the holidays.

The surge in participation highlights the festival’s role in driving SME growth and inclusive economic development.

The 2025 Holiday Edition introduces tailored attractions:-

**Christmas Village**: A curated marketplace with handcrafted gifts, seasonal delicacies, artisanal products, and holiday entertainment.

– **Large Children’s Play Zone**: Immersive games and activities for families.

– **Street Food Hub**: Showcasing Nigeria’s vibrant street food diversity.

– **Live Entertainment**: High-energy DJ sets from top Nigerian performers.

The event aligns with GTCO’s corporate social responsibility goals, promoting community impact, SME support, and Nigeria’s creative economy.

Admission is free and open to the public, emphasizing accessibility to world-class experiences.

For more details, visit the official site at [foodanddrink.gtcoplc.com](https://foodanddrink.gtcoplc.com/).

• Image of a business woman/ BOI

Nigeria’s push for inclusive economic growth gained momentum on Wednesday as the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC) launched a N10 billion loan guarantee programme aimed at improving access to finance for women-owned businesses.

The agreement, signed through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abuja, represents one of the major gender focused credit support initiatives introduced in recent years.

The BOI Managing Director, Dr Olasupo Olusi and the Managing Director of NCGC, Mr Bonaventure Okhaimo, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions.

The scheme, known as GLOW, meaning Guaranteed Loans for Women, provides for a 25 per cent guarantee by NCGC on BOI loans.

This arrangement is expected to reduce lender risk and create easier access to affordable credit for women entrepreneurs at concessionary interest rates, the two organisations said.

BOI said that the programme would support women-led enterprises across manufacturing, ICT, digital marketing, ecommerce, healthcare, education, renewable energy, processing, waste management, and the creative industries.

Olusi said the initiative was designed to address long-standing barriers that prevent women from accessing growth capital.

He said GLOW was structured to offer concessionary pricing at seven per cent, flexible collateral options and capacity building support, noting that these measures were intended to help close gender financing gaps within the MSME sector.

image credit : iea

The International Energy Agency says that the global energy sector created 5 million employments in the past five years (2019-2024) to reached 76 million people worldwide.

The agency, in its just released World Energy Employment 2025, however warns of deepening skilled labour shortages: “Applied technical roles such as electricians, pipefitters, line workers, plant operators and nuclear engineers are in especially short supply. “

“Out of 700 energy-related companies, unions and training institutions participating in the IEA’s Energy Employment Survey, more than half of them reported critical hiring bottlenecks that threaten to slow the building of energy infrastructure, delay projects and raise system costs,”iea said.

According to the report, the power sector is leading the way on job creation, accounting for three-quarters of recent employment growth, and is now the largest employer in energy, overtaking fuel supply.

Solar PV is a key driver of growth, complemented by rapid expansions in hiring in nuclear power, grids and storage.

Increasing electrification of other sectors of the economy is also reshaping employment trends, with jobs in EV manufacturing and batteries surging by nearly 800 000 in 2024.

Fossil fuel employment remained resilient in 2024.

Coal jobs rebounded in India, China and Indonesia, pushing employment in the coal industry 8% above its 2019 levels despite steep declines in advanced economies.

The oil and gas industry has also regained most of the jobs lost in 2020, although low prices and economic uncertainties have triggered job cuts in 2025.

Based on early data, energy employment growth is expected to moderate to 1.3% in 2025, reflecting persistently tight labour markets and heightened trade and geopolitical tensions that are making some firms more cautious about hiring.

Despite the strong recent performance of the overall energy sector, the supply of newly qualified workers is not keeping pace with the sector’s needs.

To prevent the skills gap from widening further by 2030, the number of new qualified entrants into the energy sector globally would need to rise by 40%.

The report shows that this would require an additional $2.6 billion per year of investment globally, representing less than 0.1% of spending on education worldwide.

“Energy has been one of the strongest and most consistent engines of job creation in the global economy during a period marked by significant uncertainties,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “But this momentum cannot be taken for granted.

The world’s ability to build the energy infrastructure it needs depends on having enough skilled workers in place. Governments, industry and training institutions must come together to close the labour and skills gap. Left unaddressed, these shortages could slow progress, raise costs and weaken energy security.”