By Daniel Essiet
The President, Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN), Prince Saviour Iche, has called for increased government support for a national e-business strategy aimed at encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) outside of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector to use ICTs to maximise their competitiveness.
With dwindling finances, Iche said small businesses need support to explore online presence as they contribute significantly to the economic and social development by fostering entrepreneurship and generating employment opportunities both at urban as well as rural level.
As the costs of communication and transportation decrease, and the demand for immediacy increases, he said SMEs have to turn to e-commerce and e-platforms to reach clients.
According to him, not all micro enterprises have maximum access to computers and the Internet to derive the full potential from such technologies.
He said there were small businesses with little or no e-commerce experience, that want to start selling online, calling for empowerment to change their business model, and diversify their sales channels and revenue streams beyond traditional brick-and-mortar.
He added that businesses must recognise that it is a major competitiveness issue,urging government to support them to adjust to changes which have seen increasing numbers of large firms and private sector organisations purchasing online.
He urged the government assessed the barriers to effective usage of ICTs by SMEs and micro enterprises.
He said e-commerce, as a medium, has been able to multiply upstream and downstream integration possibilities for a seller or a service provider.
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