SMEDAN Proposes D-8 Centre SMEs Establishment 

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has proposed the establishment of D-8 centre on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr Olawale Fasanya,  made the proposal at the D-8 Forum on SMEs and health market held in Abuja recently
The event themed, “A Coalition to Re-invent SMEs Competitiveness in the D-8 Region: Addressing the Challenges Faced by SMEs with Special Focus on Health Market’’,  was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with SMEDAN and D-8HSP Programme Office.
The D-8 Organisation for Economic Corperation also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development co-operation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Fasanya said the centre would promote, encourage, advance and support the activities of MSMEs at the national level.
“The establishment of the D-8 Centre on SMEs will unleash substantial development impacts, synergies between and among the D-8 member states and relevant national agencies and authorities,’’ he said.
He said the centre would organise symposiums, fairs, conferences, seminars, meetings of SME operators to catalyse action in promoting and coordinating implementation of SMEs development initiatives within D-8 region.
Fasanya also said the centre would engage in policy analysis, implementation and capacity development of SMEs.
The SMEDAN boss expressed concern that prevailing global issues which largely border on economic and socio-political developments affected the activities of SMEs
According to him, it affected the emerging nations more than any developed countries of the world.
“The protracted war between Russia and Ukraine has further compounded the challenges of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sub-sector in Nigeria.
“I am sure the case is not too different in other D-8 member states. Remember there was a drop of more than two million MSMEs in 2020”, Fasanya said, adding that there could be further decrease as new emerging global issues arise.
The Secretary-General D-8 Organisation, for Economic Cooperation, Amb. Isiaka Imam,  said SMEs must be strengthened with great capacity to grow the economy rapidly.
According to him, SMEs must also be resilient to climate change. Therefore, we must equip them with capacity to catalyse and scale up climate action.
He said that in 2030, 70 per cent of jobs would be generated by SMEs while about 600 million jobs would be needed globally.
The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Hidayet Bayraktar, said that the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for the D-8 member countries.