According to the SME Competitiveness Outlook 2019: released by the International Trade Centre(ITC) , small businesses are lacking in capacities to explore trade opportunities. To address this the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and other organisations are working  to  build the capacities of entrepreneurs as a strategy for poverty reduction, social well-being and sustainable economic growth. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

For analysts, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the engines of growth, jobs and innovation in all economies. They have vision. They generate new business ideas. And they are the lifeblood of communities.

For them, new companies are one of the driving forces of economic growth. This is because they

are particularly beneficial as they increase the production of goods and services, and instill an infectious energy. But what prompts would-be entrepreneurs to jump into the market?

Analysts said is a favorable environment to enable them play a vital role in driving innovation.

However, according to the SME Competitiveness Outlook 2019 released by the International Trade Centre (ITC) the joint agency of the World Trade Organisation, West Africa and the rest of the world lack the enabling environment to support entrepreneurs to drive economic growth.

The  Outlook revealed that  there was a  great, untapped potential to channel capital held by global funds towards these profitable investment opportunities.

The main factors holding investors back from channeling more funding into otherwise profitable investment opportunities in developing countries, the Outlook  listed, included a lack of scalable investment projects, non-transparent investment processes, misguided perceptions of the risks of investing in MSMEs, and a lack of knowledge about enterprise capacities.

The 85 countries are profiled in the competitiveness index, included , Ghana, Guinea,  Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda,  Zambia , Zimbabwe among others.

To  assist small businesses in  West Africa, ITC has initiated preliminary discussions with ECOWAS to launch a customized Trade Map tool for the region. The trade information tool will serve as a key resource for business owners seeking to identify potential business partners in the region.

Through an ECOWAS trade portal, Trade map users will review up-to-date trade statistics, an outline of applicable regional tariffs and existing public tenders available in the region.

‘The installation of the Trade Map tool is a significant first step towards achieving ITC’s larger mandate of providing comprehensive trade data and intelligence for the entire continent through the Africa Trade Observatory as tasked by the African Union.

Direct access to this tool will give West African MSMEs valuable data to pursue their strategic business objectives including for intra-African trade,’ said ITC Director of Division of Country Programmes, Ashish Shah.

‘Trade Map will particularly ease the identification of traditional, alternative and new markets for goods and services as well as opportunities for new investments.

We consider the Map as a key tool for deepening economic integration in ECOWAS, enhancing enterprise and regional competitiveness and connecting our economies to global value chains and markets,’ described ECOWAS Commissioner of Industry and Private Sector Promotion, Mamadou Traoré.

In line with this, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and ECOWAS have  launched a  networking platform to connect 50 million African women in business.

The  digital platform is designed to address the information needs of women in business and connect them via a custom-built social networking tool.

It primarily seeks to help economically empower women by providing a one-stop shop for a wide range of financial and non-financial services that women need to start and grow successful businesses.

The initiative which is accessible at www.womenconnect.org is implemented by COMESA, EAC and ECOWAS. It will allow women in 38 African countries to find information on running businesses, accessing financial services, create business opportunities online and access training resources, ultimately contributing to their economic empowerment.

“I certainly believe that the creation of this platform is a very practical way of speaking to the general agenda of empowering women.

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I think a lot has been said and now we have come to a stage where we have practical initiatives such as this one,” said COMESA Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe.

Through a robust social networking functionality that has been embedded in the platform, women will have opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, mentoring and sharing information and knowledge, connecting via the web-based platform or through the 50 Million African Women Speak mobile app.

The platform is touted as having the potential to unleash a dynamic online community of women entrepreneurs whose business activities transcend borders.

“Sixty five percent of the traded commodities in the East Africa region come from agriculture—a sector that employs 80% of women.

This platform will help this big part of our population to expand markets and get new opportunities,” said EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Hon. Christophe Bazivamo.

The platform comes at a time when Sub-Saharan Africa hosts close to 13 million formal and informal small and medium-sized enterprises with one or more women owners. Yet, only 16-20% of women entrepreneurs are able to access long-term financing from formal financial institutions to scale up their businesses.

In addition, with a financing gap for women entrepreneurs across business value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa estimated at $42 billion by the African Development Bank, the 50 Million African Women Speak platform stands out as an unique solution to provide information on available financial products specifically designed with women entrepreneurs in mind.

Funded by the African Development Bank, the platform aims to connect at least 50 million women across the African continent. It is also expected to contribute to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 for women and youth empowerment.

“I am very excited that it is technology-based because this is one of the issues we are trying to advance to make sure that we leverage on technology to have smart solutions that are reaching far more people.

It collapses the distance so you can have someone sitting in Kenya or Malawi talking to someone in West Africa and sharing experiences,” COMESA Secretary General Ms Kapwepwe added.

Women and girls living in poverty are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including trafficking. To address such issues, Coca-Cola‘s 5by20 Empowerment Initiative is providing women with assets to start their respective small-scale businesses, DANIEL ESSIET writes.

Quality skills and vocational training for women and girls throughout their lifespan is a necessary foundation for the achievement of sustainable livelihoods.

This is because vocational skills help women to build confidence and empower them to achieve their fullest potential.

Towards achieving this, the Coca-Cola Company launched a global initiative 5by20  in 2010 that aimed  to enable the economic empowerment of five million women entrepreneurs across the company’s value chain by 2020.

The programme targeted small businesses the company works with in over 200 countries around the world, including Nigeria.

5by20 focuses on helping women entrepreneurs across the Coca-Cola value chain — agricultural producers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, recyclers and artisans — overcome challenges when establishing and growing their business.

From fruit farmers to artisans, this initiative aims to help women overcome the barriers they face to business success.

By providing access to business skills, financial services, assets and support networks of peers and mentors, 5by20 is helping women succeed as entrepreneurs, while also helping create sustainable communities.

This year,  Coca-Cola Company has announced strong progress toward its goal.

Internationally, the company has reached a total of more than 1.2 million women entrepreneurs across 60 countries since its launch in 2010.

Partnerships with organisations such as UN Women, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) MercyCorps, TechnoServe, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hand in Hand Southern Africa, and many regional and local partners around the world  have been  critical to the success of The Coca-Cola Company’s 5by20 initiative.

At the just concluded Lagos State Employability Trust Fund (LSETF) Employment Summit, Coca-Cola Nigeria along with its Bottling partner, Nigerian Bottling Company, (NBC) highlighted its commitment to economically empowering women through its Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Manager, Mrs Nwamaka Onyemelukwe.

Mrs  Onyemelukwe said Coca-Cola launched the 5by20 Initiative in 2010. Every year since then, the company has launched different programmes to create shared value across different communities.

Sharing some of the successes and key strategies of the initiative, Onyemelukwe highlighted the train and equip model as one of the reasons they have recorded much success, as Coca-Cola has been able to not only provide their women beneficiaries jobs of their own, but have also turned them into job creators.

In 2018, Mrs  Onyemelukwe led the Coca-Cola team to sign an MoU with the LSETF to economically empower 1000 women across various local governments in Lagos State.

Today, over 900 women have been impacted under this programme. We express our profound thanks to LSETF for their contributions so far as we are confident that we are on track to ensure we deliver on this commitment.

Mrs  Onyemelukwe went on to explain in detail other laudable women empowerment initiatives Coca-Cola has been involved in.

Among them is the Educate Nigeria Girls in New Enterprise ( ENGINE)- apartnership between The Coca-Cola Company and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). ENGINE programme improved the learning outcomes and economic status of more than 21,000 marginalized adolescent girls in the Northern Nigerian states of Kano and Kaduna, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria.

Another notable intervention is The Lady mechanic initiative which empowered about 100 girls in Benin- City through the auto-mechanic skills capability development. Today these empowered young girls are all employers of labour; which contributed to the reduction of human trafficking in the state.

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On On its part, the Edo government committed to entrusting the Government fleet of vehicles to the empowered girls to maintain for a period of two years and some currently manage the fleet till date.

As part of her remarks, she said “Women are extraordinary economic multipliers when they have the right support. We have learnt that the return on investment on women is significant and this is why we create high-impact initiatives that empower women.

Women play a very important role in keeping many Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), not just ours afloat, from sourcing to production to distribution and even after consumption in the area of community recycling, and it is only more beneficial and useful to society that we empower them.

Finally, we pride ourselves in living our purpose which is to “Refresh the World. Make a Difference”.

The LSETF Chairman Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru said the summit was necessary to showcase learning in job creation and global best practices to help in efforts to combat chronic unemployment situation.

The Acting Executive Secretary, LSETF, Mrs. Teju Abisoye, enjoined the public and private organisations to support the Employment Trust Fund in its deliberate quest to put young people to jobs. She thanked the partners and sponsors for their contributions towards hosting a successful summit.

The two -day summit which was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Lagos had in attendance, the Commissioner, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Otunba Yetunde Arobieke; the Senior Special Assistant(SSA), and Focal Person, Human Capital Development, Nasarawa State, Habiba Balarabe Suleiman, government agencies, International non-governmental organisations(NGOs), Donor agencies, as well as many different professionals from various sectors as speakers.

Fintech is shaking the foundations of the financial sector.The industry has made rapid progress as consumers embrace technology-led approach to personal finance and money management. The sector’s growth shows no sign of abating. There is a demand for specialised talent as financial services organisations of all types are struggling to fill the vacancies. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Financial technology or fintech  is creating new opportunities, and encouraging innovation as consumers embrace technology-led approach to personal finance and money management. This innovation makes it such an exciting industry.

A multitude of factors are driving this growth.These include rising expectations of the tech-savvy customer, increasing e-commerce activity, and aggressive smartphone penetration.

All this has led to the emergence of new trends in the fintech space. There is an increased demand for talent with niche skills that address the changes that are being fuelled by rapid digital transformation.

Speaking with The Nation, the Managing Director, Proten International, Ope Onaboye, said across the country, fintech startups are facing challenges in attracting the talent they need to grow and prosper in the future.

He said the firm,  an international human resource consulting firm, has been at the forefront of providing manpower solutions for these startups. Having supplied over 5000 employees to various technology and fintech companies over the last two years, it has been called upon by various organisations to provide support with their launch and expansion plans.

Over the past years, he said there has been a surge in investment in the technology and fintech space in Nigeria and Africa.

His words: “Different organisations have sprung up in the market in the tech space. With the emergence of these companies comes the need for manpower to drive their objectives and activities.”

Onaboye said there is a widespread demand for talent, especially technology-based talent, across the financial services sector and organisations are struggling to fill the vacancies.

He said job creation within the fintech space  has increased as Lagos strives to reposition itself   as a hub for financial technology startups.

He said e-money firms have grown as the fintech boom has created uplift in job creation in places outside of Lagos.

Onaboye said the shortage of key technology skills is impacting on the rapidly burgeoning array of fintech-specific organisations.

He said Nigeria is emerging as business destination for international fintech sector startups. He said their presence has created a need for tech talent.

Since the space is becoming an ever more attractive landscape, Onaboye said fintech firms coming into the country focus on attracting the best talent, adding they find it challenging to get the best hands.

According to him, technology skills are among those that are highly sought for.

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He  said  fintech firms  need  expertise in data analysis; as such they are in the market for individuals with such skills as  they seek to bring new products to market to help customers better understand their data.

Fintech firms, he added, need financial services experts with the skills to survive in a technology

Onaboye said the challenge for  fintech startups when it comes to recruitment is that they look for technology experts – designers, developers and systems architects, who not only understand business, but also how to use technology to solve business problems.

He said this kind of resource is in short supply across the country.

While IT has continued to dominate the hiring agenda for fintechs, he said there were other vacancies within the fintech space.

He said what the firm is offering are fintech talents and that proactive engagement is critically important in positioning the opportunities of working with a fintech company.

According to him, fintech is a competitive recruitment market and that companies need people that are smart, talented, and innovative, with various skills.

He said the fintech startups need talent for a various business functions such as HR, marketing, finance, senior management roles and the more technical/specialist roles.

The firm has expanded its activities across Africa. He said the focus is to partner start-ups to help them build a highly productive and efficient workforce to remain sustainable and profitable.

The scorecard of Nigeria and mnay other countries in poverty reduction and economic growth has not been very impressive. This has led to investment in social entrepreneurship,  DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Over the past 10 years, the records of many developing countries, including Nigeria in economic growth and poverty reduction, have not been impressive. Analysts say business and policy initiatives to improve dire jobs situation and economic inequality have indeed been slow to show progress.

This is because their efforts have been undermined by insecure employment, lack of basic necessities and poor access to education which make it impossible for many people  to develop their potential.

This has led to increasing support for social entrepreneurship as a promising means of addressing these issues. Across Nigeria and the rest of Africa, there are social enterprises creating jobs and addressing problems in structurally underdeveloped areas.There are businesses transforming the lives of millions of people and, in turn, their communities.

Local entrepreneurs are taking the lead in upskilling the nation’s low-wage, informal and otherwise vulnerable workforce. However, the efforts have yielded marginal impacts. To this end, demand for sustainable impact investments has grown exponentially.

Speaking during the public presentation of Impact investing and Policy Landscape Analysis: Nigeria and Ghana, by Impact Investors Foundation (IIF), in Lagos, the Regional Director, West Africa, Ford Foundation, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, said  Nigeria and the rest of the world will need between $4 and $6 trillion to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He said there is an estimated $2.5 trillion yearly gap in financing the world’s SDGs.

Chukwuma said Nigeria and many middle income countries are struggling to achieve the SDGs due to insufficient budgetary support and allocation to social and economic challenges.

According to him, achieving the SDGs requires a greater commitment across sectors and industries in leveraging private capital to undertake activities that will promote social and environmental results. In line with this, he said the Ford Foundation has committed up to $1 billion from its $12 billion endowment over the next 10 years to impact investing.

He said governments and charity alone cannot meet the challenges of poverty and environmental degradation, adding that impact investors can play an important role by financially supporting entrepreneurs who are building lasting, market-based solutions.

The Projects Lead, Impact Investors Foundation (IIF), Maria Glover, said Nigeria has a thriving impact investing ecosystem, which is expected  to continue to grow and develop.

She noted, however, that despite  the increased awareness of impact investing, information on the impact investing sector remains limited.

She said the IIF report was written to address the gap and to propose policy recommendations, add-ing that Nigeria and Ghana have been identified as fast growing impact investing market.

Both countries, according to her, offered dynamic business environments with increasing entrepreneurial and investment activity focused on ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic development.

She stressed the need to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and impact investors to accelerate the end of extreme poverty.

Presenting the report, a member of Dalberg Editorial Team, Astou Dia said: “The Landscape for Impact Investing in West Africa seeks to understand the extent to which investor experience, deal flow, and outlook have evolved since 2015 and policy has enabled or inhibited impact investing, and, in turn, to propose policy recommendations that address the issues identified.”

She said despite the macroeconomic challenges in Nigeria and Ghana, the sector has seen healthy growth with $5.9 billion in impact capital deployed since 2015.

She said Nigeria has experienced greater growth in deal flow compared to Ghana with the Nigerian market now 3.9 times the size of Ghana’s ($4.7 billion) in transactions.

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She said direct foreign investments (DFIs) continue to dominate the space, representing 97 per cent of the market and an average transaction size of $56.9 million, while non-DFI transaction sizes increased moderately from $2.2 million to $2.6 million.

On challenges, she said a majority of the investors complained of the scarcity of investment-ready businesses. Another challenge is inadequate policy and regulatory environment. She said the  impact investment ecosystem is desirous of stable and enabling regulatory policy environment.

Others were poor data availability hindering ability to make investment decisions and   infrastructure to support the growth opportunities for portfolio companies.

The Senior Lecturer, Entrepreneurship, Lagos Business School, Dr Henrietta Onwuegbuzie said leveraging private capital through impact investment can play a critical role in supporting the achievement of the SDGs.

She said Nigeria needs businesses -focused on providing market-driven solutions that address a social, economic or environmental problems.

IIF Chairman Afolabi Oladele said the foundation hopes to become a focal point for investors in the sector.

He said the foundation’s collaboration include sharing its experiences in impact investing with other organisations.

The Chief Executive, Kuramo Capital Management, Wale Adeosun, said there is a growing recognition and need for impact investing.

He said his firm has been working within other investors to align investments with global development goals, adding that a lot of impact investments have been channeled into projects that have been a catalyst for poverty alleviation and economic and social prosperity in Nigeria.

He said Nigeria’s vast development needs provide ample opportunity for impact investments, which aim not only to generate a financial return for investors but also to have a positive social and environmental effect.

As private sector investors look to emerging markets as the next frontier, the Chief Executive, Allon, Dr Wiebe Boer said there were substantial investment opportunities across the energy sector that remain largely untapped.