Chairman, Lagos Zone of Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Mr Segun Kuti-George, last Thursday said that small scale entrepreneurs in Nigeria needed more skills to have competitive edge internationally.

Kuti-George said this at a workshop organised for members by the association on ”Writing a Bankable Business Plan”.

He said that healthy competition was important for businesses to grow as no small business intended to remain small forever.

“Many other people are doing the same business with you, so, what one needs to have an edge over others is to cultivate some skills that will be peculiar to you and your business.

“Excellent communication and customer service skills, self discipline, time and people management skills and skills in packaging of business plans are essential now for business growth.

“While competition is one of the challenges that Nigerian business owners complain about, whereas they don’t know that it is healthy for them,” Kuti-George said.

He also advised small business owners to imbibe some of the business qualities of the renowned businessmen and women.

A speaker at the workshop, Dr Olatunji Dawodu, said that it was not good to rush into a business without passion for the venture.

He said that making necessary findings about a business and understanding how established businessmen survived in such a business were necessary for survival of such ventures.

“It is not everyone who cannot get a job that is capable of doing business. Without adequate preparation, businesses failed,” he said.

He urged banks to produce templates of business plans to assist small business entrepreneurs to get loans from them.

Dawodu lauded Nigerian women for their efforts in harnessing their business potential to assist their husbands to sustain their homes.

“I urge our government at all levels to invest more to support the Nigerian woman,“ he said.