Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has disclosed plans to reach out to over 1 million Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) with financial assistance as a means of empowerment for economic growth.
Speaking at the Weekend in Abuja at the just concluded 2024 National Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMESs) conference, the Director General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii said “we will reach 1 million small businesses with capacity development”.
He reaffirmed that the Agency is committed to financing small businesses as well as building infrastructure for small businesses.
“We will come back within 12 months and see how far we’ve gone with that. My advice to all the MSMEs in Nigeria is, join a cooperative, join a group, join a cluster because we have currently one, but we would like to retreat to you in clusters.
“So please, be counted. Come out and join the cooperative. They don’t have to pay back the money, I hope, and I wish that they will utilize it judiciously for the purpose of which they pitched for it to be used. I wish them all the best, and also making sure that that grant will be a controller grant worth so much that they will go on to employ more” he stated.
Odii explained that “we can expect to see in the MSMEs ecosystem entrepreneurs who are looking forward to building themselves and building their capacities.
“We have established that one of the problems in the MSMEs ecosystem is capacity development, and we want to make sure that we up-skill all our small businesses.
“So what we are doing is leveraging technology. First of all, we launched the SME Digital Academy, where we put fresh courses for small businesses to be able to take advantage of. And there are phenomenal courses there.
“You know, courses on how to start from zero capital, courses on how to respond to businesses, courses on how to identify how to write a business plan, how to get target market, how to hit your target market, and how to identify your right target market.
“Those kind of courses are available, and we believe that when our small businesses take those courses, their capacities will be equipped”.
The DG said, “We also believe that with His Excellency, the President’s intervention of N200 billionaire to the MSME to the enterprise ecosystem in Nigeria, our small businesses, nano businesses, are getting N50 billion, N50,000 each for 1 million small nano businesses”.
Odii said the financing of the MSMEs will improve the capacity of small businesses, empowering them to grow and contribute more to the economy.
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