Capital Portfolio and Investment Systems Limited (CAPIS) has unveiled details of how its N5 billion Entrepreneurship Education Fund and Kids Capital Trust are designed to connect education, entrepreneurship and long-term financial opportunity for Nigerian children.
The initiatives, developed through a strategic partnership between CAPIS and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), are aimed at addressing a challenge that often emerges after years of formal education: the gap between acquiring knowledge and having the financial resources to turn that knowledge into productive opportunities.
The partnership was highlighted by the launch of the N5 billion Entrepreneurship Education Fund in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The fund is structured as a perpetual endowment intended to support qualified participating schools, strengthen educational development and promote entrepreneurship within the private education sector. (Businessday NG)
Speaking on the initiative, Paul Adonis Peters, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of CAPIS Limited, explained that the thinking behind the programme goes beyond simply helping children obtain certificates. According to him, education should ultimately lead to opportunity, enterprise and prosperity.
He argued that Nigerian children are entering a world being transformed by artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and industries that are still emerging. As a result, preparing children for the future requires more than traditional classroom education.
Peters said schools and other institutions must help young people develop innovation, resilience, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking.
That philosophy is central to the CAPIS-NAPPS partnership.
Rather than viewing education and finance as separate areas, the initiative seeks to connect the two so that children can receive education while also being positioned for stronger financial opportunities later in life.
Peters said the central question behind the initiative was what happens to a child after completing an education when ambition meets limited access to capital.
He argued that a child could graduate with knowledge and talent but still face difficulties turning those qualities into economic value if there is no access to opportunity and capital.
This gap, according to CAPIS, is where the Kids Capital Trust comes in.
The Kids Capital Trust, or KCT, is one of CAPIS’s flagship platform access services. The company describes it as a structure designed to provide parents with a means of creating a stronger financial foundation for their children, alongside financial and investment advisory support. CAPIS says the service is intended to help children enter adulthood with a financial foundation that can support future opportunities. (Businessday NG)
The concept represents a shift from traditional approaches to children’s financial planning.
Instead of waiting until a child becomes an adult before thinking about capital and investment, the KCT seeks to introduce long-term financial planning much earlier.
CAPIS explains that the trust is designed to combine access to capital with ongoing financial and investment advisory support.
The objective is therefore not simply to accumulate money for a child but to create a structured pathway through which capital can contribute to future economic participation.
According to Okeoma Ebelechukwu Opusunju, CAPIS’s Chief Financial Officer, the KCT forms part of the company’s broader vision of expanding access to capital through productive economic activities.
She explained that CAPIS operates as a venture capital firm focused on businesses and sectors capable of addressing real market challenges while creating opportunities for financial inclusion and economic participation.
The company says it is licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a Venture Capital Manager, and officials of the SEC were present at the CAPIS-NAPPS event to explain the company’s regulatory status. (Businessday NG)
The second major component is the Entrepreneurship Education Fund, which is designed specifically around the development of schools and entrepreneurial education.
The N5 billion fund is not being presented simply as a one-off intervention. Peters described it as an institution intended to operate across generations, with its capital preserved while its activities continue to support educational development.
This structure is important because conventional educational interventions often depend on annual budgets, donations or short-term funding. By establishing a perpetual endowment, CAPIS and NAPPS are seeking to create a financial mechanism that can continue supporting schools and educational initiatives beyond the immediate launch period.
The fund is expected to provide grants to participating and qualified schools while supporting innovation and entrepreneurship education.
Its broader purpose is to strengthen private educational institutions so they can continue improving the quality of learning and preparing students for an economy that is changing rapidly. (Businessday NG)
Governance is also a central element of the initiative. CAPIS unveiled an Entrepreneurship Education Fund Governance Charter alongside the fund. Peters stressed that a long-term institution cannot depend solely on good intentions and must instead be supported by transparency, accountability, stewardship, integrity and professional management.
This governance structure is particularly important given the size and long-term ambition of the initiative.
The credibility of a fund designed to operate across generations depends heavily on how its resources are managed, how beneficiaries are selected and how its financial activities are monitored.
The partnership with NAPPS also gives the initiative access to a broad network of private schools. The association represents proprietors of private schools across Nigeria, while the initial collaboration has a particular focus on the South-South region.
Discussions between CAPIS and NAPPS reportedly began in 2021 and culminated in the signing of a strategic partnership agreement between the NAPPS Rivers State Chapter and CAPIS in March 2022. The relationship has now developed into a wider initiative focused on education, entrepreneurship and financial empowerment. (Businessday NG)
For private schools, the potential benefits extend beyond access to grants.
The initiative could encourage schools to incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into their educational programmes, helping students develop practical skills that may become useful long after graduation.
For parents, the Kids Capital Trust presents another dimension: planning for a child’s financial future alongside education.
The underlying philosophy is that the cost of raising and educating a child should not be viewed solely as an expense but as part of a broader long-term investment in human capital.
For children, the ultimate objective is to create a bridge between education and opportunity.
DDM News understands that this approach reflects a growing recognition that Nigeria’s education system must increasingly prepare young people not only to seek employment but also to create businesses, solve problems and participate meaningfully in the economy.
The significance of the initiative therefore extends beyond the N5 billion figure.
Its real test will be whether the structures established around the fund and the Kids Capital Trust can produce measurable improvements in educational quality, entrepreneurial capacity and long-term financial preparedness.
Nigeria has a large and youthful population, but translating that demographic advantage into economic prosperity requires sustained investment in human capital.
Children who receive quality education but lack access to opportunity may still struggle to convert their abilities into economic independence.
This is why the connection between education and capital is becoming increasingly important. As the economy changes, young Nigerians will need more than academic qualifications.
They will need financial literacy, entrepreneurial skills, technological competence, creativity and the ability to identify opportunities in emerging industries.
CAPIS’s model attempts to bring these elements closer together by creating a system in which schools, parents, children, capital and entrepreneurship are connected.
The broader ambition is generational. Rather than focusing exclusively on immediate financial returns, the initiative is positioned around creating structures that can benefit children as they progress from school into adulthood and eventually into the workforce or business environment.
For DDM News, the CAPIS-NAPPS partnership represents an emerging model of how private-sector capital can be linked with education to address one of Nigeria’s persistent challenges: ensuring that academic achievement translates into meaningful economic opportunity.
The success of the initiative will ultimately depend on implementation, transparency, effective governance and the ability to maintain its long-term objectives.
If those elements are sustained, the N5 billion Entrepreneurship Education Fund and Kids Capital Trust could provide a framework for strengthening schools while helping families prepare their children for the financial realities of adulthood.
At its core, the CAPIS vision is built around a simple progression: education should create knowledge, knowledge should create opportunity, opportunity should encourage enterprise, and enterprise should ultimately create prosperity.
That philosophy places children at the centre of a long-term economic strategy.
Rather than waiting until young people graduate before thinking about capital, entrepreneurship and financial independence, CAPIS and NAPPS are attempting to begin that preparation much earlier.
The initiative therefore represents more than a new financial programme.
It is an attempt to build a bridge between the classroom and the economy, giving education a stronger connection to the realities of enterprise, investment and long-term wealth creation.
