NEWS ROUND-UP

BoI URGES SMEs TO ACQUIRE MANAGERIAL SKILLS

The Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry (BoI), Ms. Evelyn Oputu has urged stakeholders in the Small and Medium Enterprises sector to seek and acquire managerial skills as an important aspect of their businesses.

She said beyond funding, managerial skills were becoming more critical for the survival of businesses in the country.

Oputu, who was represented by Mr. Pacqueens Irabor, spoke at the unveiling of the Association of Small Business Owners in Lagos recently. She said, “Finance is not what you need to start your business but creative ideas. If you can come up with innovative ideas, success will follow you.”

According to Oputu, SMEs contribute a large percentage to the economic growth of countries across the world. She said in recognition of this, BoI had dedicated 85 per cent of its resources to boosting the growth of the sector.

ASBON President, Dr. Femi Egbesola, said the association was formed based on the fact that if the potentials of all businesses within the SMEs sector were annexed, it would contribute to the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and generate employment opportunities.

According to him, small business owners across the country form about 17.3 million of the total population with a total employment of 32 million, contributing 45 per cent to the sector. He said, “If only half of the 17.3 million small business owners create a job every year that would amount to eight million jobs. If well nurtured by ASBON and other relevant agencies, this sector will generate over N800bn annually and pay tax and levies of upward of N600bn to the government annually.

“The sure bet for preparing for the post-petroleum economy is by growing the small business sector. Small businesses need to occupy a prominent place in the post-petroleum economy as oil had pushed Nigeria to a mono-product economy over the years.”

ACCESS BANK BUDGETS N3BN TO GROW SMEs

Access Bank Plc Executive Director, Business Banking Division, Mr. Obeahon Ohiwerei recently disclosed at the bank’s Power Breakfast Series for travel agencies and hospitality sector in Abuja that the board of director of the bank had approved a N3 billion facility to collaborate with operators in the hospitality and tourism industry to aid their growth by providing small business customers with innovative incentives that are designed to enhance business efficiency.

He said “For any economy to grow, the SMEs must be vibrant and I don’t think any bank has deliberatively gone to that area to help develop it. So we, as a bank, given our success in the whole area are now ready to come into the SMEs space”.

He said the bank was ready to play in 13 business segment including focusing on women-run enterprises. Ohiwerei said the bank would embark on massive capacity development for operators in the sector to enhance their chances of accessing the fund.

Access Bank is set to propel economic development through detailed focus on the SME segment of the market. It has identified 13 critical segments for support and created a full division (Business Banking Division) to support the needs of SMEs in Nigeria. He stated that the bank plans to introduce an initiative that will allow Nigerian youth own companies.

FG PROVIDES 3BN FOR MICRO ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT

The Federal Government provided N3bn through the National Enterprises Development Programmes for micro enterprises across all the states of the federation from January to September 2013.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the direct micro-enterprise funding further demonstrated the commitment of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to develop enterprises at the grass roots in order to create jobs, enhance growth and ultimately reduce poverty.

He said the NEDEP provided the necessary platform for sustainable ongoing funding of the micro enterprises, adding that the programme, through the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria’s business development training, also ensured the financial readiness of the micro enterprises and, thus, their ability to repay the disbursed loans.

Micro enterprises are businesses with less than 10 employers and or less than N5m in assets (excluding land and building). They currently represent 99.87 per cent of Nigeria’s MSME population.

According to the minister, the NEDEP is an initiative spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and its three parastatals, the Bank of Industry, SMEDAN and the Industrial Training Fund.

FG URGES NIGERIANS TO PATRONICE LOCAL-MADE GOODS

The 3^rd Practical Nigerian content Forum of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board commenced in Bayelsa State recently, with the Federal Government emphasizing the need for Nigerians to patronize locally-made goods. The Minister of Industry, trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said local patronage would make the evolution of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan a reality.

He noted that no nation had moved from being poor nation to a rich nation by importing raw materials without a strong industrial base. He said the ministry was working with industries to enhance their productivity and improve the quality of their products to significantly reduce the importation of substandard goods.

Aganga said this ministry had re-designed and re-lauched the “Buy Naija, Create Jobs” campaign to encourage local procurement of supplies, services and other requirements in order to increase local output and employment level. He said, “we know that we must nurture new industries, supported by government incentives, until they grew strong enough to withstand international competition”.

“These are the reasons we have taken time to develop the NIRP, learning from the experiences of countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea, among others. The NIRP is Nigeria’s first strategic, holistic, comprehensive and integrated roadmap to industrialization”.

MSMEs SOLUTION TO UNEMPLOYMENT

The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has described the Micro, Small and Medium Scale enterprises (MSMEs), as the only avenue to rescue Nigerians from mass unemployment. Speaking recently in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr, Tunde Lemo said, Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) was the solution to the upward trend in unemployment in the country. He stated that MSMEs provide a platform for employment and wealth creation, poverty reduction, reducing rural-urban drift, youth restiveness and crime reduction.

Lemo who spoke during the Egba Economic Summit in Abeokuta with the theme ‘Leveraging MSMEs for Development; Prospects, Challenges and Opportunities’ said opportunities to Access Finance for MSMEs Development in Egbaland through CBN Scheme and Programmes were quite enormous.

He said Nigeria’s micro-economic environment has been relatively strong despite adverse conditions in the global economy and threat to security in the domestic economy.