The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SMEDAN

  • Reps to amend SMEDAN law to empower artisans, others

    The House of Representatives on Wednesday commenced public hearing on a bill to empower artisans and craftsmen to enable them contribute to the country’s economic growth.

    The bill proposed the repeal and re-enactment of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Act 2003, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The agency was established through the Act to coordinate and facilitate the development of micro, small and medium enterprises.

    The sponsor of the bill, Ahmed Kaita (APC-Katsina), said the need to empower and protect a massive population with the capacity to spur the country’s economy motivated him to sponsor the bill.

    “For any economy to get it right, it must first of all empower that working population which is massive. Those people that we are referring to are large in number and can spur growth.

    “There is no government policy that will lead the country out of this economic doldrums without considering these artisan, craftsmen, market women and all those people that contribute to the economy,’’ he said.

    The lawmaker argued that most developing countries that were at par with Nigeria were able to get it right because they were able to address the issues that the bill sought to address.

  • DG laments 8.9% capital release for SMEDAN operations

    DG laments 8.9% capital release for SMEDAN operations

    Operations of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) have been crippled by the 8.99 per cent release of its 2016 capital budget.

    Its Director-General (DG), Dr Dikko Umaru  Radda, made this known while presenting the agency’s progress report to  House of Representatives members who visited the Industrial Development Centre (IDC) office in Lagos.

    According to Radda, SMEDAN had N193.9 million as its 2016 appropriation for overhead, and capital vote of N1.79billion.

    He said of the N193.9 million slated for overhead, only N121 million was released to the agency while a meagre sum of N161million was released to date out of the N1.79 billion appropriated for capital project.

    He said based on the releases to the agency, budget performance stood at 61.25 per cent for overhead and 8.99 per cent for capital, adding that the total expenditure for overhead as at December 13, 2016 were N118 million and N161 million for capital.

    Other issues raised by the DG included the establishment of an affordable and sustainable funding for MSME’s development in Nigeria.

    This, according to him, will include soft loan, matching grants and interest-free loans for their development.

    This, he said, would reduce the funding gap for MSME’s in Nigeria estimated to be in the region of N9 trillion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    He emphasised the need for an improved funding of the agency, if the job creation organisation was to achieve its lofty objectives like its counterparts in other parts of the world.

    He said emphasis should be on statutory funding of 0.5 per cent tax on some imported finished products that could be locally produced. He explained that additional funding would be used in the areas of capacity building for MSME’s, strengthening of nationwide structures for MSME’s, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment programme, empowerment for MSME’s and provision of common facilities, among others.

    Radda also advocated government’s provision of technological support for MSME’s in the areas of ICT, promotion research, development and innovation, promotion of technology commercialisation platform.

    He also listed other areas of immediate concern to MSME subsector to include funding of Business Development Services (BDC), which encompasses training and skills upgrading programme in the areas of MSME’s-University Internship programme.

    Responding, Chairman, House Committee on Industry, Hon.  Hussaini Moriki, commended the  management of SMEDAN, who in spite of lean financial resources, managed to impact on the MSME’s.

    The committee, he said, was impressed with the presentation of the DG, promising to intervene to draw the attention of the Federal Government to the challenges of the agency, which he described as the key to the actualisation of the government drive to diversify the economy and create the needed jobs for the growing unemployed in the country.

    He said the committee would look into the amendment of the Act establishing the agency  to give it more power to develop the MSME sector of the economy.

    The House Committee members later undertook a tour of the IDC in Ikorodu, where they lamented the encroachment of the centre and promised to take appropriate action.

  • SMEDAN calls for establishment of SME bank

    SMEDAN calls for establishment of SME bank

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has emphasised its call for the establishment of Small and Medium enterprise (SME) Bank. The said bank would be used to access funds without the bottlenecks associated with loans from other banks. This, according to the agency, would pave the way for creation of millions of job.

    Addressing the media in Lagos, SMEDAN’s Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, said the major challenge inhibiting the development of SMEs in Nigeria remained non-accessibility of funds by the entrepreneurs, which has to be addressed by establishing a bank for the sub-sector.

    Radda, who opposed the proposed scrapping of Bank of Industry(BOI) by the Federal Government, maintained that more of such retail banks should be established along a designated bank for the SME sub-sector.

    According to him, the small and medium scale businesses would be more at home with SME banks than any other.

    As an agency saddled with the responsibility of catering for the SME in Nigeria, SMEDAN boss said the agency would establish an SME micro-finance bank to kick-start the process of creating SME bank.

    Radda, however, lamented that the agency was confronted by many challenges limiting its capability, among which included the Act of National Assembly that established the agency in 2003 to which the agency has been seeking amendment.

    He said  if the Act was amended by the National Assembly, the agency would be more empowered to develop the SME sub-sector to the higher level, adding that the agency would be able to formalise the SMEs, as many of them remained informal by creating platform through which they could easily register their businesses and have easy access to fund at the proposed SME bank.

    Radda, who noted that the agency was underfunded, said the agency would liaise with the government to allow it have 30 per cent of the tax on the luxury products imported into the country, emphasising that such luxury goods should be taxed more if imported into the country.

    He maintained that the revenue from such tax would be used to fund SMEs as it is done in other countries.

    He also appealed for the provision of enabling environment for the SMEs to thrive, while charging the Federal Government to promulgate competition law, which would regulate monopoly and other factors affecting the economic growth in the country.

    Meanwhile, Radda said there was the need for the government to ensure synergy among all agencies, ministries and departments that are saddled with similar but complementary responsibilities rather than promoting unnecessary rivalry.

    “We see one another as competitors rather than collaborators. We have forgotten that we are all working for the government and for the well-being of the citizens.

    “SON and NAFDAC should not see each other as competitors, while SMEDAN and ITF should accept that they are complementing each other’s effort to growing the economy,” he said.

    He, therefore, promised that the agency would put in all efforts to ensure that the SME sub-sector is used as a driver to take the nation out of economic recession, adding that it has been collaborating with other agencies and organisations on vocational and entrepreneurial training, capacity building and financial sourcing.

  • SMEDAN, ITF partner on youth training

    Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Director-General  Mr. Dikko Umaru has said it is collaborating with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and Bank of Industry to provide entrepreneurship and vocational skills for youths.

    Umaru made the disclosure in, Abuja at the graduation of trainees of the first batch of the 2016 National industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP).

    Umaru, represented by Mr David Ozigi, Director, Engineering, Technology and Infrastructure, said the programme was to build a bridge over the gap between employers and job seekers.

    “The various skills you have acquired are in consonance with the priority sectors needed to rejuvenate the economy and help us intensify the “Made in Nigeria’’ campaign.

    “These include agri-business, fabrication, Information Communication technology, wood-work, building technology, electrical and electronics, leather work, textile, garment, fashion designing, hospitality business, among others,’’ he said.

    Umaru advised the participants to practise what they learnt and build on it by seeking business advice at any of the agency’s offices.

    He said the knowledge required to kick-start and manage a successful business was provided for the participants.

    According to him, the agency will  link them up with credible partners and mentors that will impact positively on their proposed businesses.

  • SMEDAN: 96% of SMEs are micro

    SMEDAN: 96% of SMEs are micro

    Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Director-General, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, has said 96 per cent of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country are micro.

    He said the agency was making efforts to formalise them to access funds.

    Radda spoke while receiving Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong in his office.

    Radda said SMEDAN was well positioned to assist states in developing and promoting MSMEs, given the role of the sector in wealth creation and poverty alleviation.

    He noted that the agency was being repositioned to meet the challenges of the present times, adding that the visit of the Plateau State chief executive to the agency was not only apt, but encouraging.

    Radda said SMEDAN would assist the state in business development services and entrepreneurship training.

    Lalong said SMEDAN was key to actualising one of his agenda for youth and women, hence, the establishment of the state MSME agency.

    He said he was at the agency to introduce the head of the Plateau State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, Mr Haggai Gutap, to SMEDAN so both agencies could synergise on how to develop MSMEs.

  • SMEDAN, firm target 10,000 jobs in 2017

    SMEDAN, firm target 10,000 jobs in 2017

    Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country is set to receive a boost as the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Footprint to Africa, a foremost business and financial news resource and investment bridge company has forged a synergy of cooperation which will lead to creation of at least 10, 000 jobs next year.

    The partnership, which is in consonance with Footprint to Africa’s mission of promoting the growth of SMEs, is coming through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between SMEDAN and Footprint to Africa recently.

    At the MoU signing ceremony which held at the SMEDAN office in Abuja, Dr. Dikko Umaru-Radda, Director-General, SMEDAN, reiterated the role of MSMEs as the engine of economic growth, saying the partnership with Footprint to Africa was apt as it was in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s desire to diversify the economy away from oil.

    “The MSMEs hold the key to the future of our economy and I truly believe that our partnership with Footprint to Africa will give global entrepreneurs the right opportunity to meet and partner with SME business owners in Nigeria to foster strong business relationships,” he said.

    Speaking during the signing of the MoU, Barr. Osita Oparaugo, Managing Director, Footprint to Africa, expressed confidence that the partnership would signal the beginning of a new Nigeria where SMEs would truly drive economic growth.

    He explained that Nigeria offers a large and vibrant market, an abundance of natural resources, a cheap, dynamic and well-educated workforce, investor-friendly government policies and a strategic location with access to serve the African market, urging both local and foreign SMEs to tap into these rare opportunities to grow their businesses.

    “Nigeria is currently on track to become one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020. With a robust private sector, the country boasts of a large market with an unrestricted movement of investment capital. There is no better place to be today than Nigeria. If you are not in Nigeria, you are not in Africa yet,” Oparaugo said.

    Oparaugo further explained that under the terms of the agreement, SMEDAN would provide the institutional support in promoting the activities of the Nigeria SME Connect, which, he said, was capable of creating 10,000 jobs by the end of 2017 as partnerships between local and foreign SMEs lead to increased economic activities.

    Part of this, he informed, was that SMEDAN would screen and register at least 20 SMEs in each of the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, who would attend the SME Connect forums, saying the essence was to holistically develop SMEs across the country and not just in a few states.

    The first two forums scheduled for February 2017, Oparaugo said, would focus on agriculture and real estate sectors, with a special focus on manufacturers and dealers in building materials, adding that the choice of these sectors was informed by the huge opportunities they hold.

    “The agricultural sector presents a $1.2 billion opportunity and given Nigeria’s 17million housing unit deficit, the building sector presents an annual revenue-generating opportunity valued at over $10billion,” he said.

    On what participating SMEs stand to gain, Oparaugo said the Nigeria SME Connect forum would offer every participant an unparalleled access to the teeming Nigerian market as well as the West African market’s large consumer base currently valued at over 340 million consumers.

  • SMEDAN, Sokoto train youths on entrepreneurship

    SMEDAN, Sokoto train youths on entrepreneurship

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) and the Sokoto State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SOSMEDA) have begun training 100 youths on entrepreneurship.

    SMEDAN and SOSMEDA organised the three-day training to provide the youth with skills on business development and establishment.

    At the opening of the training in Sokoto on Monday, SMEDAN  Director-General Dr Dikko Radda,  represented by the Director, Engineering, Technology & Infrastructure, Mr. Abu Ozigi, said Nigeria was unacceptably faced with large-scale youth unemployment.

    He said: ‘’SMEDAN is now set  to reposition itself for a focused delivery of business development services to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, with particular emphasis on micro enterprises.

    ‘’SMEDAN is desirous that most of the enterprises in the micro category, which currently constitutes 99.8 per cent of MSMEs, grow to small and subsequently, medium enterprises. In this way, more jobs would be created and contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be enhanced.’’

    Radda said the two agencies were working out a sustainable funding mechanism for the beneficiaries of the training programme. This step, according to him, would subsequently be taken to upscale the gesture, while access to information on investments would be boosted.

    ‘’SMEDAN and Sokoto State Government have commenced discussions on the re-development of the Sokoto Industrial Development Centre (IDC). Furthermore, working with SOSMEDA, the agency shall provide access to information on investment opportunities in each local government area of the state,” he said.

    The Director-General, SOSMEDA, Hajiya Aishatu Hassan, commended Governor Aminu Tambuwal for according special priority and recognition to MSMEs.

    ‘’Such commendable efforts by the state government culminated in the recent establishment of the agency, while it provides sustainable moral and financial support to it. The training is aimed at further reducing poverty and unemployment in the state, while boosting the economy of the state,’’ she added.

    The Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Alhaji Aminu Bello, stated that the state government was taking steps to restore the lost glory of businesses in the state.

  • SMEDAN plans 1.5m jobs in six C

    SMEDAN plans 1.5m jobs in six C

    Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) will create 1.5 million jobs in six months, its Director-General Dr Dikko Umaru Radda has said.

    He spoke when the Financial System Strategy (FSS) 2020 Project Team, led by its Head, Project Management Office, Mohammed  Suleyman, visited him in Abuja.

    “The major driver for economic growth is wealth and job creation. SMEDAN aims to create 1.5 million jobs in the next six months, which will be a great step in achieving the core mandate of the agency,” Radda said.

    He described the FSS 2020 project as a catalyst for national development which would strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector as well as galvanise the economy.

    Radda assured the team of the agency’s support on the project which seeks to develop the economy to make it one of the best by 2020.

    The agency, he said, would work towards realising the project’s objectives for the MSMEs to feel the impact.

    “I have from your presentation come to the realisation that the FSS 2020 has a lot to offer for the development of MSMEs sub sector in the country. This is a welcome development and I am very impressed with this,” he said.

    He told the FSS 2020 team that the major challenges of MSMEs, particularly in Nigeria, is lack of a synergy between stakeholders and access to finance. He restated that the FSS2020 project is a national project whose primary purpose is to develop the economy.

    Suleyman said the project dealt with pension, MSMEs, insurance and mortgage, among others. He solicited for a technical officer, who will serve as a link between the team and the agency.

  • Dwindling allocation hampers SMEDAN’s performance, says DG

    Dwindling allocation hampers SMEDAN’s performance, says DG

    The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Dr. Umaru Dikko Radda, has said dwindling statutory allocations have affected the agency’s capacity to reach out to the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs).

    Radda spoke in Kaduna at the strategic management retreat for the agency’s senior officers.

    He said statistics showed that Nigerian and New Zealand SMEs contribute the highest to employment. Nigerian SMEs, he said, had the lowest contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while Brazilian SMEs have the highest contribution to GDP because their agency is well funded.

    Radda said: “While our counterpart in Brazil gets $1.8 billion subvention yearly, SMEDAN’s allocations in 2014 and 2015 were $20.1 million. While our counterpart in the United States (US) oversees 20 million SMEs, SMEDAN oversees about 37 million MSMEs.

    “Ironically, our US counterpart’s subvention in 2016 is $701.3 million, which is more than the budget of SMEDAN since inception in 2003. Radda, therefore, stressed that basically the retreat was, among others, to provide a platform for the review of the agency’s operations and strategically chart the way forward.

    ”The retreat is further aimed at aligning the operations of the agency to the fundamental goal of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, which is revamping the productive and service sectors of the economy with a view to diversification from the oil sector and creating mass job opportunities,” he explained.

    Earlier in her speech to declare the retreat open, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, expressed satisfaction with Radda’s effort at re-positioning the agency.

    She assured that the special needs of MSMEs would need to be attended to enable new and existing businesses thrive and provide job opportunities for over 70 million youths.

  • Enterpreneurship will solve economic problems, says BoI

    Enterpreneurship will solve economic problems, says BoI

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) has identified entrepreneurship as one of the ways to take the economy out of the woods.
    Its Acting Managing Director, Waheed Olagunju in a presentation at the second day of the first National Forum on the Economy organised by Vintage Press Limited, titled National Economy: The Way Forward, said the time has come for action having been speaking about challenges and pains.
    Represented by the GM, Joseph Babatunde, Olagunju said if the SMEs are encouraged, more jobs will be created.
    He said research by SMEDAN had shown that there are 37m SMEs in the country, adding that if they are encouraged and each of them employs one person, its multiplier effect would be tremendous.
    He said Nigeria is number 3 next to US and India in the movie industry, adding that if the strength of the country is explored in the area of the production of goods and services for which the country has comparative advantage, the economy would prosper.
    He said BoI is working with the CBN and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop credit bureau and collateral registry to ease access to funds to SMEs.

    According to him, the bank is also working towards the building of industrial parks, adding that the bank also has cottage agrofund, fashion fund, Nolly fund and the N5m microfinance fund.
    He urged governments at all levels to address the issue of multiple taxation.