Development of a Social Network Platform for Youth Entrepreneurship in Kaduna State

Youth unemployment in Kaduna State remains a critical development challenge in Nigeria's North West zone, with limited platforms connecting young entrepreneurs to mentors, investors, and peer networks. This project develops a social network platform dedicated to youth entrepreneurship in Kaduna State, providing structured spaces for idea sharing, mentorship matching, and micro-investment pitching. The platform was built using Next.js with a GraphQL API and MongoDB Atlas, optimised for mobile-first access reflecting Nigerian youth internet usage patterns. The agile Kanban methodology guided development, with continuous feature prioritisation based on feedback from 45 youth entrepreneurs and 10 business mentors drawn from Kaduna's Arewa House and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) chapters. Features include user profiles, mentorship request workflows, a pitch board, event listings, and integration with BudPay for micro-transaction support. Evaluation tracked user engagement, mentor-mentee connection rates, and platform retention over 12 weeks. Results show 64 percent of registered users made at least one meaningful connection within the first month, and three pilot pitches attracted soft commitments from angel investors. The study recommends partnership with the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency to enhance the platform's credibility and visibility among formal investors. Keywords: social network, youth entrepreneurship, Kaduna, mentorship platform, mobile-first