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Tag: SMEDAN

  • SMEDAN trains 11,000 youths on business devt

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) intends to generate 444,000 direct jobs and an additional 1,776,000 indirect jobs from the training of 300 youths in every state off the federation.

    The training will come in the next three years under its National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI). The agency in this year alone, has trained 11,000 artisans and youths in the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory.

    The  youths, during the five days training programme, were trained  on Personal and Business Visioning, Business Plan Development, Identification of Business Opportunities, Selling and Marketing strategies, Accessing Business Finance, Customer care and Legal and Regulatory Issues.

    A statement by the Corporate Affairs Unit of the Agency noted that the National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI) is a programme designed to support the entrepreneurship component of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), a tripartite intervention by SMEDAN, ITF, and BOI to fill the capacity gap of the youths. The programme was designed to absorb the graduates of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF)’s vocational skills training programme.

    The initiative, according to the statement, was designed to ensure that more professional services will be provided by local and well trained young artisans thereby leading to reduction in job losses to immigrants from neighboring countries.

    The statement quoted the Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion department of the Agency, Monday Ewans as saying that the programme focuses on providing entrepreneurship and business management skills to the trained artisans so that they can sustain their businesses over a longer period of time.

    Ewans also said that the training programme seeks to pursue a drastic reduction in dependency poverty as most of the out of school youths who still rely on stipends from parents are empowered to become self-reliant.

    Ewans said that the Agency developed and delivered need-based entrepreneurship training curriculum that would help the participants to prepare bankable business plans that the Agency would submit and follow up with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria in respect of having access to loans under the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

  • SMEDAN, 21 firms attend China SMEs fair

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and 21 Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) participated at the 15th edition of the China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair (CISMEF) held in China.

    In one of the meetings with organisers of the fair, SMEDAN Director-General, Dikko Radda requested for areas of collaboration which includes, cluster development, capacity building, technology transfer , banking and trade partnership beyond the fair.

    Responding, the Deputy Director General Bureau of CISMEF) Hei Zuoxian commended the Nigerian delegation and promised to look at all the request made by the SMEDAN boss. On the issue of collaboration, he said if time permits he will facilitate a meeting between SMEDAN and its Guangdong Province counterpart.

    A major activity during the Fair was the SMEs Cross-Matchmaking Forum aimed at offering opportunities to connect Chinese SMEs with overseas customers, and increase their presence in the global market. Nigerian’s participation came within the framework of strengthening areas of comparative advantage in various fields and also synergies to enhance competitiveness back home.

    The Nigerian delegation also visited the Africa Guangdong Business Association; AGBA is a veritable platform for Guangdong enterprises to successfully work with African SMEs both in Africa and in China.

    The president of AGBA Thu Layi welcomed the delegation and re-affirmed his readiness to work with Nigeria; he said they have four major areas of interests which includes investment, financing, talent training and laws & regulations surrounding export and imports.

    Earlier the Chairman SMEDAN Governing Board Otunba Femi Pedro stated that SMEDAN wishes to collaborate and synergize with Guangdong SMEs especially in the area of technology transfer and ICT through the Africa Guangdong Business Association (AGBA) window for the promotion of the MSME sub-sector in Nigeria.

    In his remark, The Managing Director of Sino-African Investment Consultancy Company, Tracy Huo informed the delegation that the “China-Africa Economic & Cultural (CAEC) will be hosting Nigeria in April during their China-Africa Economic & Cultural Week scheduled for April, 2019 in Guangzhou.

    She also said they are working on a three year plan to promote Nigerian culture, products, training of artisans and marketing research working with relevant banks and SMEDAN.

    The SMEDAN Board Chairman accepted their proposal and promised all hands will be on deck for a beautiful outing. The Director General Dr Dikko Radda also added that Nigeria SMEs and officials will like to take advantage of the African Business School, Research and growing of talents training.

    Radda noted that the participation of Nigerian SMEs at the fair would have a great impact on the economy of the nation, adding the SMEs that attended the fair were able to identify new markets and modern technology to improve their production. He said the SMEs were also able to discover new investments and business opportunities.

  • SMEDAN urges MSMEs to explore funding options

    The Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN),  Dikko Radda,  has advised Micro Small and Medium Scales (MSMEs) in the country to explore alternative funding options instaed of waiting for government to fund and provision infrastructure for them.

    Represented by the Director, Policy Partnership and Coordination, Mr. Israel Ikymiour, at the YEEL Zero interest loan national launch in Abuja yesterday, Radda said providing support for MSMEs in the country is a challenge.

    Radda said  stakeholders in the MSMEs sector considered the  responsibility of government and government alone to provide fund and others thereby killing many viable and vibrant business ideas that would have created jobs, add value to goods and products.

    “MSMEs are globally recognised as engines of social economic transformation of especially developing nations. As has become well established, they present a vital platform for boosting technical, technological and entrepreneurial capacity amongst critical segments of the populace,” he said.

     

    MSMEs also offer opportunities to drive jobs and create wealth as well as income redistribution within society thereby partnering with YEEL Zero interest loan to support the small businesses by driving jobs.

    Speaking on the occasion, the Executive Director, YEEL Investment, Mr. Edewor Christopher said building a new Nigeria entails erecting the country on a solid and concrete foundation that will allow citizens to operate within the orbit of good quality of life.

    “YEEL Zero interest loan is a special intervention scheme targeted towards empowerment of small and medium scale business in Nigeria. The principal aim of the scheme is to ensure that no person with viable business idea remains idle, hopeless, poor, unemployed and financially constrained because of non-availability of capital. This is also to compliment the effort of the government,” he said.

    Edewor said all it needs is to work to any Fidelity Bank and get the YEEL Zero interest loan pin that can give you access to our loan page on their website and submit details. Loans are already being given to some people.

  • SMEDAN seeks 10-year tax holiday for MSMEs

    • Sterling Bank unveils N25m SMEs collateral free loan

    Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), is seeking a 10-year tax holiday for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

    The Lagos State Coordinator of the agency, Yinka Fisher, said SMEs remained the agents of transformation in any developing economy, adding that offering them 10-year holiday would help their businesses grow.

    Speaking on the sideline of this year’s Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) SME group annual seminar, Fisher said with about 37 million enterprises of which 68,168 are SMEs, government should initiate more entrepreneurship initiatives to keep them alive and grow.

    Chairman, LCCI’s SME group, Abiodun Oladipo, said the seminar would help members and the business community to become aware of the opportunities available.

    “Many nations have employed SME strategies to turn their economic fortunes around and it has been proven beyond doubt that there exists a highly impressive and positive relationship between the level of entrepreneurship activities and economic growth,” he said

    Head, SMEs, Sterling Bank, Mrs. Ezinne Nwaokafor, said the bank is helping businesses to grow by strengthening the expansion of its retail/SME and ‘non-interest-bearing’ lines and business reorganisation. She said the bank now gives collateral free loan to SMEs to key areas, such as those desirous of purchasing equipment to the tune of N25million and N2million for raw materials.

    She  said SMEs are hampered by the unstructured nature of business where a single person is both the CEO and the front desk officer, stating that it’s almost impossible for banks to give loan to such a business because of the safety of their fund.

    Mrs. Nwaokafor said limited documentation, inadequate knowledge of banks requirement in collateral and security, access to market and being technologically up to date with the products they manufacture and how to market them, are some of the challenges besetting SMEs.

    Promoter, SME Think Thank and author of a book, ‘How to grow your SME business’,  Sola Dawodu  advised SMEs to change with change, saying they will be addressed the way they present their products and businesses. He urged them to invest in innovation and competitiveness.

     

     

     

  • SMEDAN demands new funding windows for MSMEs

    the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has called on the Federal Government to establish additional funding windows for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to enhance financial access to the sector.

    SMEDAN Director-General, Dikko Radda, who disclosed this at the MSME Day 2018 celebration in Abuja, said government should reactivate the National Enterprise Development Fund and Export Development Fund (EDF), Private Equity, Venture capital and also strengthen Development Finance Institutions through equity injection.

    “There is also need for an improved funding of SMEDAN. If the agency is to achieve its lofty objectives, like its counterparts in other parts of the world, it has to be adequately funded in order to be placed at an advantage to provide incentives to MSMEs,” he said.

    Radda said the sector plays a pivotal role through several pathways that goes beyond employment generation. “They are growth-supporting sector that not only contribute significantly to improve living standards, but also bring substantial local capital formation and are  responsible for driving innovation and competition in developing economics. Government at all levels have undertaken initiatives to promote the growth and development of MSMEs. The general perspective is that MSMEs also play significant contribution in the transition from agriculture-led economies to industrial-led economies”.

    He said MSMEs are major job providers and catalysts for growth;  provide regional balance towards economic development and are critical force in realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.

     

  • AfDB grant: SMEDAN strengthens funding, capacity for MSMEs

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has secured a grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to conduct feasibility studies on all the 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) preparatory to their upgrade and conversion to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) cluster parks. The Bank of Industry (BoI) is also supporting the MSMEs under the SMEDAN coverage with funding to enable operators add benefits to the economy, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    Capital is one of the most important factors needed to drive sustainable growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). That explains why Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has secured grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to conduct a feasibility study on all the 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) preparatory to their upgrade and conversion to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) cluster parks.

    The study, which is sponsored by a grant of approximately $600,000 or N183 million, secured from the middle income country technical assistance fund of AfDB, is the first to be granted to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment/SMEDAN to encourage and improve sustainable entrepreneurial development specifically targeted at SMEs in the country.

    The centres were established in the 60s and 70s to provide middle level manpower in woodwork and metalwork to local industries. They were subsequently transferred to the agency for proper attention.

    The underlying objective of the project was to establish Common Infrastructure Facility Centres that would resolve some of the challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with particular regard to accessing work space and common amenities like internet access, water, power, roads among others. The facility is projected to improve the global competiveness of SMEs, by reducing overhead costs and enjoying economies of scale as is usually the case with clusters.

    SMEDAN Director-General, Dikko Radda said the agency has considered turning the industrial Development Centres (IDCs) to industrial clusters to address work space problem for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and promote economics of scale derivable from the agglomeration of critical mass of enterprises.

    So far, SMEDAN has secured a grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to conduct a feasibility study on all the 23 IDCs preparatory to their upgrade and conversion to MSMEs cluster parks.

    “Small businesses are spread all over the country and reaching out to them to provide solutions to their needs may be a daunting task to achieve. This is so obvious because services required by them are not provided by one agency. For instance, while skill acquisition is the prerogative of IITF, managerial skill is for SMEDAN whereas finance is the role of institutions like Bank of Industry,” Radda said.

    “To address the problem, a clinic was established, called the MSME clinic. In the team are all the various stakeholders, SMEDAN, Corporate Affairs Commission, Bank of Industry,  Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), among others. The clinic is domiciled in the office of the Vice President while SMEDAN provides the secretariat. The team tours the country under the leadership of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, to meet with SMEs and discuss their problems with them. Each member of the team takes its turn to provide solution to the array of challenges confronting the business owners. Problems are diagnosed and solutions proffered,” he added.

    Continuing, he said accreditation is another important pillar in sanitising the MSME sub sector. “Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) are many and varied in scope. Some BDSPs have national coverage, some regional and some state. One of the most important role they play is loan facilitation and other business development support services. Consequently, institutions such as SMEDAN and BOI have partnered them to provide trainings and loans to MSME. This important role underscores the need to accredit them through a recognised and acceptable institutional framework that will bring credibility to bear on their analysis and recommendations.  SMEDAN has established the accreditation framework for the BDSPs,” he said.

    A Lagos lawyer, Moses Adike,  said “ensuring that BDSPs provide standard service to MSMEs has been on the front burner for some time now”.

    SMEDAN has achieved some milestones in the establishment of the framework for accrediting the BDSPs in partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID). The project has a complementary component – The Credit Information Portal. The portal when deployed, would provide information to MSMEs towards accessing credit. MSMEs can now access reliable information for their credit needs from various financial institutions.

    Radda has recognised the need to boost SMEs operations by putting in place strong measures that confront these challenges facing the sector. From the implementation of the One Local Government, One Product (OLOP) Programme, National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP), establishment of the SME Rating Agency of Nigeria, credit information portal, ICT development to implementation of the nationwide MSMEs clinic to mention but a few, SMEDAN is helping the Federal Government to realise its vision of improving the economy and lives of the citizenry.

    To support the agency to carry out these reforms and innovations, Radda is seeking for amendment of the Act that established the agency. The idea is to re-position it to accomplish its mandate.

    The process, which originated as a follow up to resolutions taken at the maiden Management Retreat of the agency since coming to office some two years ago, has scaled through the first and second readings at the National Assembly. When passed into law, it would provide the right ammunition to fight the obstacles in its path to success.

    Radda said SMEDAN will continue to strive for excellence and strategic growth through forming strong partnerships with reputable public and private institutions. This is in order to build an all-inclusive and conducive business-to-business and access to market environment.

     

  • SMEDAN seeks more funding for MSMEs

    The Governing Board of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has reiterated the need for the agency to create a database for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that will enable the sector to attract more funding.

    The platform is also expected to help provide a reliable data on the formal and informal sectors.

    According to the Board, MSMEs are the drivers of socio-economic development in the country, hence the need to bring the MSMEs under the control of SMEDAN.

    SMEDAN Chairman, Femi Pedro, who spoke during the maiden meeting of the fourth Governing Board held at the SMEDAN headquarters in Abuja, said the database would give SMEDAN power and make it easier to coordinate the MSMEs in line with global best practices.

    He said the challenges facing government and SMEDAN include lack of reliable data and statistics in the formal and informal MSMEs; loss of tax revenue on formal and informal MSMEs; poor interagency information and resource collaboration- as well as poor coordination of social programmes and policies for MSMEs between agencies of government and the private sector.

    The board chair explained that the board of SMEDAN would get an Executive Order to compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)  partner  SMEDAN.

    “When we train MSMEs, we need to give them a unique identification number that will enable SMEDAN to track their activities and collect up-to-date information.

    ‘’According to the SMEDAN/NBS Survey, there are over 37 million MSMEs in the country and they are known to have contributed well over 59 million jobs, representing over 84 per cent of the total labor force.

    ”The sub-sector’s contribution to GDP in nominal terms is said to be 48.47 per cent, contributing 7.27 per cent to export,” Pedro said.

    He however, noted that MSMEs sector is fraught with challenges, assuring that the board would work  with the management of SMEDAN to address the identified challenges.

    SMEDAN Director-General, Dikko Umaru Radda made a presentation on the status of ongoing projects; the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Agric-Business SMEs Cash Disbursement under the Agricbusiness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) fund.

    “While SMEDAN was deliberately established to midwife the sustainable and efficient structure, poor funding of this critical sub-sector, as an institution, is beset with several challenges which have impacted service delivery,” he said.

    The D-G stressed that repositioning the agency towards realising its objectives, required a review of its strategies, systems and processes to reveal weaknesses to be fixed.

    He said some of the major challenges facing the organisation were structure and poor funding.

    The highlight of the meeting was the establishment of four committees that would drive the re-engineering of the agency.

     

  • SMEDAN to empower ICT entrepreneurs with grants

    Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has said it will provide grants and training for ICT entrepreneurs to enable them compete effectively in the global market.

    SMEDAN Director-General Dikko Radda disclosed this during a workshop titled: Commercialisation empowerment schemes for Knowledge-Based ICT entrepreneurs with innovation, held yesterday in Lagos

    Radda, represented by Friday Okpara of the Strategic Partnership and Liaison Department at SMEDAN, said the programme was designed to deliver hand-own commercialisation-based business development scheme to a number of selected entrepreneurs with innovative ICT ideas/products at various stages of development.

    The scheme, he said was demand-driven  and meant to enhance the capacities of these innovators to be able to fill market gaps with their products through sustainable ICT Value addition and wealth creation empowerment packages.

    “The programme has been scheduled to hold in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt, where 30 entrepreneurs will be trained, empowered and their most viable products patented. The SMEDAN has been collaborating with Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) in the planning and implementation of the training and start-up empowerment components of the programme,” he said.

    He said SMEDAN has planned to collaborate with National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) and Patent Office of Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to file and obtain patents for innovative and viable products  that will emerge on day three of the exercise.

    He said the OIIE provided the platform used for the selection of these 30 entrepreneurs per location out of the numbers that responded to our call for status update.

    “It is our hope that entrepreneurs selected will demonstrate elementary commercial viability of their innovative products so as to merit further marked access, hand-holding business Development Services that will be deployed thereafter,” he said.

    “Identifying ways to successfully commercialize scientific discoveries is especially important in Nigeria where the gap between high levels of scientific performance and these discoveries’ present minimal contributions to industrial industrials competitiveness and new venture entrepreneurship appears particularly large,”he added.

    “One possible way of supporting technology innovators is to commercialize their products as well as support them through the provision of science parks, clusters and protect their intellectual property. The performance of a national economy in terms of innovation and productivity is not only the result of its basic research capabilities and inventions,” he said.

    Radda said SMEDAN will continue to strive for excellence and strategic growth through forming strong partnerships with reputable public and private institutions. This is in order to build and all-inclusive and conducive business-to-business and access to market environment.

    He added that the agency is one of the key partners in the implementation of the open air business clinics where all regulatory agencies are present to diagnose ad solve most of the teething problems that confront MSMEs in Nigeria.

  • SMEDAN seeks more funding for MSMEs

    Supporting Micro Small and Medium Enterprises through funding and other operational tools will boost their contributions to economic development, the Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dikko Radda, has said.

    He spoke during the knowledge sharing session under the Enterprise Network Initiative (ENI) held in Lagos.

    Radda, who was represented by Friday Okpara of the Strategic Partnership and Liaison Department at SMEDA, said Nigeria’s MSMEs are equal to the tasks if they are motivated and incetivised. “They are also capable of generating enough foreign exchange and generate massive employment for the unemployed youths, hence poverty reduction and wealth creation,” he said.

    He said the ENI is a network of interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking and global competitiveness. The network convenes the most relevant and knowledgeable though leaders from acadamia, government, business and civil society to challenge conventional thinking and develop new insights and perspectives on the key global systems, as well as the impact and governance of key emerging strategies and technologies for capacity building.

    He said the mission of the ENI is to improve the business climate and promote cross bo-rder trade and investment in its geographical region among MSMEs.

    He said the quality of Nigeria’s MSMEs products should be enhanced and the ease of doing business improved. “We should explore the huge markets with their unique products. “The standards and specifications should be enhanced and improved. Our labeling and packaging should meet international standards. The various embassies and the regulatory organisations and the Nigerian Customs should help make our products export ready,” he said.

    He said many Nigeria SMEs and small holder farmers remain inefficient and constrained in their productive capacities due to lack of skills, capacity and other restraints. Targeted trade Capacity Building assistance is essential for bridging that gap.

    The MSMEs need a better understanding of trade and investment programme opportunities, trade regulations and doing business practices, customs and market trend opportunities.

    He  said another opportunity for the export of Nigerian goods is the Ecowas market though the Ecowas Trade Libralisation Scheme (ETLS).

     

     

  • SMEDAN unveils Conditional Grant Scheme for MSMEs

    SMEDAN unveils Conditional Grant Scheme for MSMEs

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) has commenced a Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) for Micro Small and  Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

    The Director-General of the agency, Dikko Radda announced the scheme at the Senator Bassey Albert’s Constituency Hall in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

    He said the scheme would  address  challenges confronting the MSMEs sector by promoting capacity building and post-intervention support services for micro enterprises. This, he said, would enable operators to access finance, market, workspace, technology amongst others.

    He said, the pilot phase of the project was being conducted in six states: Katsina (34 Local Government Areas -LGAs), Gombe (11 LGAs), Ebonyi, (13 LGAs), Oyo (33 LGAs), Akwa Ibom (31 LGAs) and Benue with 23 LGAs making a total of 145 LGAs.

    According to the SMEDAN boss, the justification for a special entrepreneurship and vocational development intervention for grassroots entrepreneurs cannot be over-emphasised, including moving informal enterprises to the formal sector.

    This, he said would industrialise the nation, develop the rural economy, stem youth restiveness and unemployment as well as create the platform for sustainable economic growth and development in the country.

    He further noted that the micro enterprises sub sector accounted for a majority of the enterprises in Nigeria and also accounted for the highest number of job created in the economy. “The findings in the National MSMEs survey of 2010 and 2013 revealed that micro enterprises represent 99.8 per cent (17,261,753) and 99,80 per cent (36,994,578) of total enterprises respectively.

    Also, the total number of persons employed by micro enterprises in 2010 was 15,641,460 representing 90.41 percent of total number of employed persons,” he said. The D-G further disclosed that in 2013, the total number of persons employed by micro enterprises was 57,836,391 which represented 96.88 percent of total number of persons employed.

    Radda however, noted that over 90 per cent of the micro enterprises are informal and populated by people at the bottom of the pyramid. This, he added, necessitated the need for the agency to conceptualise a flagship programme known as CGS for micro enterprises in Nigeria.