The Nation Newspaper

Tag: (UNIDO

  • UNIDO upgrades MSMEs’ financial literacy

    UNIDO upgrades MSMEs’ financial literacy

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO’s) Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) in Nigeria, in partnership with government institutions and the private sector, has commenced the upgrade of the financial literacy of Nigerian entrepreneurs, Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), women and youths.

    The programme is in response to United Nation (UN)’s call on UNIDO to develop, operationalise and lead the implementation of the programme for the UN’s Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III), which reaffirms the importance of industrialisation in supporting Africa’s own efforts towards sustained, inclusive economic growth and accelerated development.

    UNIDO was invited to foster partnerships and build joint initiatives in favour of industrialisation. Consequently, the UNIDO ITPO Nigeria has, in recent weeks, held a number of workshops on the use of UNIDO tools and methodologies for the preparation and appraisal of investment projects, both with the private sector and government agencies. A statement by UNIDO ITPO Nigeria’s Adebisi Olumodimu said the aim of the workshops was to help Nigeria prepare for the IDDA 111 at the grassroots level.

    According to the statement, five workshops were organised across Nigeria – one in Lagos in partnership with the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). The second workshop was in Kano in partnership with Kano State Government and the Office of the Special Advisor to the President on Youth and Student Affairs. Three of the workshops were in Abuja in partnership with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, among others.

    Olumodimu explained that governments, financial institutions and entrepreneurs require properly prepared feasibility studies in order to make sound investment decisions, adding that from the perspective of entrepreneurs, the most important factor was that they are “bank-ready.”

    “Many Nigerian start-ups do not survive because they cannot cope with the financial aspects of business. The problem of financial literacy affects a range of actors, starting with university graduates, who cannot find jobs, to existing MSMEs, which cannot find the resources to grow,” the statement said.

  • UNIDO to develop Nigeria’s SMEs

    UNIDO to develop Nigeria’s SMEs

    United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), will help develop  Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

    UNIDO’s  Chief Technical Adviser, Investment and Technology Promotion Office, Stanislaw Pigon, who stated this at a breakfast meeting with agencies of government in Abuja, yesterday, said the idea was to foster enterprise and investment promotion across every sphere of the business strata in Nigeria.

    He said the focus on enterprise development was borne out of the discovery that investors in the country did not have the desired skill and knowledge of enterprise development, saying this has affected the country’s economic growth.

    Pigon said UNIDO-ITPO,  was training professionals of various associations in the private sector, financial institutions and governmental investment promotion institutions, so that they would in turn, train Nigerian businesses.

    He said Nigeria could leap-frog in economic diversification, industrial upgrading and technological innovation, to make it a more competitive brand in the African continent and the world at large, adding that UNIDO ITPO would like to transfer knowledge and introduce the best practices in preparation for the investment process.

    “This way, the investment project will be presented outside Nigeria in form of attractive portfolio. But then, it is not only to train the trainers; we would also like to interact with the universities and the educational sector in general. We want the graduates to be prepared for business in life,” he stated.

    Also speaking, the Head, UNIDO ITPO, Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodimu, said the primary target of the capacity building programme was to support the Federal Government’s bid to diversify the economy.

    She said the country needed to demonstrate its readiness to diversify her economy and take advantage of unlimited opportunities in the non-oil sector now, especially with the dwindling prices of crude oil in the global market.

  • UNIDO: global manufacturing rose 3.7% between Jan and Mar

    UNIDO: global manufacturing rose 3.7% between Jan and Mar

    •Africa’s manufacturing output hits 5.7% 

    Global manufacturing output rose by 3.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, compared to the same period of last year – a rate  higher than the average rise observed in 2016, a United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) report, has said.

    The report, which was signed by UNIDO Chief Statistician Shyam Upadhyaya and made available to The Nation, said global manufacturing gained strength in 2017 and the prospects for sustained industrial growth are improving in industrialised and developing economies.

    According to the report released during the week, improved growth figures were observed across all country groups. It said manufacturing output of industrialised economies rose by 1.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, compared to the same period of previous year.

    “Manufacturing output rose in all major industrialised economies with a significant share of global manufacturing output, namely the United States of America, Japan, Germany and the Republic of Korea,” the report said.

    It added that among the industrialised regions, Europe’s manufacturing output grew by 1.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, and that positive trends were widespread throughout Europe.

    “Manufacturing output rose by 3.5 per cent in Netherlands, 2.7 per cent in Belgium, 2.6 per cent in Finland and 1.7 per cent in Austria. Similarly, manufacturing output rose by 6.6 per cent in Poland, 6.7 per cent in Romania and 3.5 per cent in Bulgaria,” the report said.

    It, however, stated that the repercussions of lower global energy prices were still present in Norway and the Russian Federation, where manufacturing output was yet to achieve growth.

    The report also noted that emerging industrial economies showed much higher growth – 6.0 per cent – during the same period. For instance, Latin American economies showed early signs of recovery, achieving positive growth rates for the first time since a prolonged recession in recent years.

    Higher growth rates were achieved by developing economies in Asia, while the manufacturing output of Africa rose by 5.7 per cent.

  • UNIDO, FG develop plan to end use of mercury in mines

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in collaboration with the Federal Government (FG) has developed an action plan to end the use of mercury in mines.

    This is a bid to end lead poisoning in mining communities around the country whose activities of extracting gold, using mercury has led to health complications in the communities.

    Regional Director for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Representative, UNIDO Regional Office Nigeria, Dr. Jean Bakole, made the revelation yesterday in Abuja, at the inauguration of the development partner and donor agency coordination group on mining.

    He added that UNIDO is developing a four-year new country programme and formulation in which the mining sector has been identified.

    His words: “We, as an international organization, are willing to partner the country by providing expertise, experience, technologies, among others, for the development of the nation.

    “We are developing a new country programme which will be for a five-year term from 2017 to 2022. Through this new country programme and the formulation, the mining sector has been identified as one of the key areas UNIDO is going to support in the country.

    “We are also starting a new project with the Federal Government in developing a national action plan on mecury in artisanal and gold mining sector to reduce the use of mecury in artisanal and small scale mining.

    Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, stated that the plan addresses challenges associated with gold mining and production, including smuggling, illicit financial flows.

    He said: “UNIDO is assisting the country to develop the Minamata Initial Assessment and a National Action Plan on Mercury use in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining as stipulated by the Minamata Convention. This support extends to our ministry and the ministries of environment and health.”

  • SMEs: UNIDO to help Nigeria implement growth strategies

    The nation’s small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) has received a major boost with the proposed support by the Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation which has assured stakeholders that it will work with Africa, and indeed Nigeria, to realise the projected growth of small businesses.

    The Head, UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodimu, who gave the assurance at the closing ceremony of a four-day intensive training programme organised by UNIDO-ITPO Nigeria for three federal government agencies, said a strong team had been developed to strengthen the training potential of the agencies toward improving their mandate delivery.

    “UNIDO ITPO Nigeria has just finished the training of experts which it will use in its training tasks ahead,” she said, adding that the team had been able to evolve the needed strategies to address challenges associated with entrepreneurial development in Nigeria.

    “As a team, the collaborators have analysed the Nigerian business climate, and we have also imbibed the spirit of enterprise so that we will train entrepreneurs in the interest of ensuring that their businesses thrive despite challenges,” she noted.

    “I have no doubt that we will achieve our set goal of making conglomerates of entrepreneurs by strengthening SMEs and placing them on the path of growth,” she added.

    The beneficiary agencies are the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, National Office for Technology Acquisition & Promotion and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council.

    Olumodimu tasked the agencies to maximise the opportunities afforded them by the training, stating that they must leave no stone unturned in applying newly devised strategies to their operations as regards development of entrepreneurs.

    The Director-General, NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed, thanked the UNIDO ITPO Nigeria for the platform and assured stakeholders that NIRSAL would sustain the inter-agency collaboration established by ITPO Nigeria for the development of SMEs in the country.

    “We are going to work with our partners in NIPC and NOTAP. We will identify realistic projects in the agricultural value chain that have to do with youth and we will apply the training we got here,” he added.

  • UNIDO: 20% SMEs manage to survive in Nigeria

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office (UNIDO ITPO), Nigeria, has called for the formulation of affective strategies to address the high mortality rate of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. It stated that studies have shown that only 20 per cent of SMEs manage to survive in the country.

    Coordinator, ARCEIT Programme, UNIDO ITPO, Bahrain, Mr Afif Barhoumi, who spoke at the opening ceremony of a four-day training programme organised by UNIDO ITPO Nigeria for selected Federal Government agencies, stressed the need for continuous enterprise development and investment promotion to key stakeholders.

    “Although everybody in Nigeria desires to become an entrepreneur, only 40 per cent of the dreamers get to start, but no more than 20 per cent survive,” he said.

    He added that ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) needed to entrench enterprise development and investments promotion as a key strategy to end the scourge.

    “The training will also equip the SMEs with survival and growth skills needed to thrive and take advantage of investment and trade opportunities in local, regional and international business environments,” he noted.

    Head, UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodumu, said the need for capacity building of MDAs has become inevitable if the Federal Government wanted to play its role of supporting SMEs to grow.

    She said if adequately supported, SMEs would grow into big bussinesses and possibly conglomerates which products will compete with world-class products elsewhere in the world.

    “Nigeria used to be a mono-economy but when the fortune of oil waned, government decided to diversify the economy. Agriculture is a very viable source of economic diversification and we hope that Federal Government agencies will take advantage of the knowledge sharing afforded by this training,” she said.

    Managing Director, Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Mr Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed, said SMEs were the key drivers of success of the agricultural economy even with the private sector.

  • Metrology institute vital for economic diversification – SON

    Metrology institute vital for economic diversification – SON

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says functional metrology institute is vital for economic diversification needed to improve the nation’s economy.

    The Director-General of SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma, said this at the 2017 World Metrology Day in Enugu on Tuesday.

    The event, which was organised by the Weights and Measures Department of Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and SON had the theme: “Measurements for Transport”.

    Aboloma said that functional metrology would support the accreditation of all products, especially export destined goods and services.

    “At present, metrology is still one of the fundamental factors enabling a successful modern and economic viability and a prosperous society.

    “This is what we do must depend in order to check disagreement in businesses, human activities as well as standard of life in general,” Aboloma, represented by Mrs. Oluremi Ayeni, a Director in the agency, said.

    On the theme, Aboloma said that every type of transport from bicycle to ship, from car to spacecraft, required to meet appropriate standards as the basis for domestic and international regulation.

    He said that such policies could specify essentials for every aspect of performance like safety, economy and emissions.

    “As demands for accessible and efficient transport increase so also for measurements and standards to underpin them.

    “Ultimately, some of the demands are met by new technologies like driverless cars and zero-emission vehicles – consecutively generating new measurement challenges,” Aboloma said.

    Delivering a lecture on “Measurements for Transport”, the Director of National Metrology Institute (NMI), Enugu, Mr. Obiora Manafa, said that transport remained a vital determinant in business as well as production.

    Manafa stressed on measurement in road, water, air, railway and pipeline modes of transportation.

    “Both the Holy Bible and Quran said that God is concerned about appropriate weights and measures.

    “The Holy books want people to applying appropriate weights and measures to avoid misunderstanding and cheating in business or human affairs,” he said.

    The director said that NMI conference coming up later this year would ensure that Nigerians products meet all standards; while the issue of rejection of any product from the country would be a thing of the past.

    A representative of the Weights and Measures Department of Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Ejiofor, advised Nigerians to seek standard measures in all their doings to establish integrity for their products or services.

    Ejiofor, however, called for the re-introduction of road weighing bridges as part of revenue generation for the Federal Government meant to fix or repair the roads at intervals.

    Highlights of the event was the inspection of the ongoing construction at the National Metrology Institute (NMI) being facilitated by the Federal Government with support funding from UNIDO and the European Union.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Metrology Day is an annual celebration since the Meter Convention was signed by countries on May 20, 1875.

    Nigeria chose to celebrate the Day on May 23 because the actual date fell on a Saturday.

  • UNIDO to hold summit

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has concluded arrangements to hold the ‘Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) aimed at promoting a roadmap for industrial development to echo the evolution in international trade and global best practices.

    The summit, which holds in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), March 27-30, is a joint initiative launched by UNIDO and the Ministry of Economy of the UAE.

    As the world’s first-ever cross-industry forum, the summit is designed to create universal consensus by unifying governments, businesses and civil society to take a transformational approach towards shaping the future of manufacturing.

    A statement on UNIDO’s website stated that manufacturers play a crucial role in the exponentially evolving world economy, accounting for almost 17 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the past few years.

    “They (manufacturers) generate wealth for investors, pay taxes to governments and employ half a billion people worldwide. In the meantime, they are also facing challenges brought by rapid transformations in technology and global value chains that are driven by the digital revolution. These challenges can no longer be resolved in isolation, they require a global solution,” the statement said.

    It added that in this context, GMIS will offer a voice and a venue for leaders to transform manufacturing, encourage greater investment in capabilities, foster innovation and drive global skills development.

    “The summit will bring together over 1, 200 delegates, including visionary world leaders, industry CEOs, research experts and academics to provide long-term innovative solutions to the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry,” the statement added.

    It also said in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, the event is part of a global initiative to promote and advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development, for which this year’s is only the beginning of the GMIS journey.

  • UNIDO kicks off EDIP in Nigeria

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office has kicked off the Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion (EDIP) programme in Nigeria.

    The programme, which was set rolling with the first train-the-trainers workshop in Lagos yesterday, was designed to develop capacity and foster enterprise and investment promotion through the development of first-rate business incubation management and counselling systems.

    One of the facilitators, Mr. Afif Barhonmi, said, with the right regulatory, incentive framework, and the right frame of mind of entrepreneurs, the Nigerian economy could take a step forward in merging the goals of entrepreneurship development, youth empowerment/engagement, continuous economic diversification, industrial upgrading and technological innovation, to make the nation a more competitive brand in the continent and the world at large.

    He said, “We are starting with ITPO Nigeria in order to develop capacity for the local team and also a centre for entrepreneurship in Lagos and other regions. This is the first capacity programme and there will be others on developing business incubation management system and counselling. “This team is a tough team because they are professionals with wealth of experiences.”

    Participants agreed that developing the business growth cycle would require assistance schemes and policies, which would contribute to the transformation of the Nigerian economy and its integration.

  • SON, UNIDO partner on governance standard

    SON, UNIDO partner on governance standard

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) are to develop a national standard for good governance that will be acceptable to stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Aboloma Osita made this known at the technical committee meeting on good governance standard in Abuja at the weekend.

    He said the idea is to align the standardisation processes of SON with international best practice.

    He said: “The objective of this technical committee was basically to develop a national standard for good governance that will be acceptable and applicable to stakeholders both in the public and private sector of the country, irrespective of the size or status of their organisations. This is understandably not an easy task.’’

    He said the organisation was confident that the committee would deliver on its objectives, adding that at their last meeting, the efforts of their members were noted.