Nation
SMEDAN Advocates Stakeholders’ Support For MSMEs
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has urged stakeholders within the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises’ (MSMEs) ecosystem to create a more supportive environment for MSME’s to grow, thrive and contribute to the economy.
The Chief Executive Officer, SMEDAN, Dr Olawale Fasanya, gave the advice at a two-day MSMEs Business Summit, organised by Innovation Centre for Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development (ICLED) in collaboration with SMEDAN in Lagos.
The Tide’s source reports that the summit had the theme, “Renewing MSMESs in Nigeria: Navigating Disruption and Embracing Change in the New Digital World”.
Fasanya said the latest survey the agency conducted with the National Bureau of Statistics in 2017 revealed Nigeria had about 41.2 million MSMEs and in 2020, about 39.6 million.
According to him, the country lost about three million as a result of COVID-19.
Fasanya, represented by a Director in SMEDAN, Dr Friday Okpara, noted that within the 39.6 million MSMEs in 2020, about 96.9 per cent were within NANO and micro enterprises.
He said, “that is to tell us that 3.1 per cent is just small and medium sized; and that is a big job for those within the MSMEs ecosystem.
“Especially SMEDAN, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, amongst others.
“We should see to how we can mainstream these 96.9 per cent micro enterprises to small and medium sized; and if you look at the type of crisis we are having in terms of youth unemployment and we say we have 39.6 million MSMEs, assuming we employ one each, a lot will be off the market.
“This is part of the mandate of the agency to ensure that we have the capacity to make a small legion of that to enable them contribute more to the GDP”.
The SMEDAN boss also noted that the MSMEs had made an encouraging contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product of 46.31 per cent, saying that more needed to be done.
“Their contribution to exports is very minimal compared to India that has about 42.5 per cent contribution of MSMEs to exports; equally in 2017, their contribution to export was about 7.27 per cent but the 2020 figure has shown us that there is a decline to 6.21 per cent.
“This means that SMEDAN should collaborate more and partner more with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to enable us to have more MSMEs, especially with the recent Africa Continental Free Trade Area in which Nigeria is a big player among the 64 African countries”, Fasanya said.
Prof. Stephen Aliu, Team Leader, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and Wealth Creation and Faculty Member, ICLED Business School, said fostering growth and development of MSMEs would require relevant stakeholders to implement best practices as done in other climes.
“SMEs often face challenges in accessing finance due to limited collateral or credit history.
“Governments and financial institutions should develop tailored financial products such as microloans, venture capital funds, or crowd funding platforms to provide affordable and accessible financing options for SMEs.
“Additionally, promoting financial literacy and offering business advisory services can help SMEs improve their financial management capabilities.
“Simplify regulations and reduce bureaucratic barriers, enhance entrepreneurship education and training, foster innovation and technology adoption, facilitate market access and internationalisation and build supportive ecosystems.
The Alliance Française Port Harcourt in conjunction with the Embassy of France Nigeria over the weekend joined the globe to campaign against the 2025 gender- based violence (GBV) with the theme: “16 Days of Activism Against Gender- Based Voice”
The event which took place at the event Hall of the Alliance Française Port Harcourt was in collaboration with the Female in Gaming Network, ( FIGN) and partnership with Nexal a body that seeks to promote online safety and responsible digital behaviour.
The Tide reports that the project which was aimed at promoting digital safety and girls inclusion in Gaming, with the initiative tagged ‘Gameover Gender- Base Violence’was part of the global campaign against gender- based Violence.
The activity which experienced a flavour of festivity was full of fun and excitements as participants took part in tournaments on popular digital games such as Mario kart and EAFC 25, with an intent to creating safer and more inclusive digital spaces.
The Director of the Alliance Française Port Harcourt, Mrs Marina Lacal said that these activities were designed to encourage inclusion of girls, team work and fair play on online gaming spaces, saying that the gaming world reflects these inequalities, where female players are often under represented.
According to her the main objectives of the initiative was to provide a supportive environment for girls and female in gaming network.
“GameOverGBV” is a project created to reshape this landscape by offering an innovative inclusiveness of girls on online digital Gaming community and digital environments that provide opportunities for creativity, learning and connection, but also fight against Gender-Based Violence Digital Gaming,”she said
She however, explained that the Digital Game, sport competitions, was launched to strengthen social and digital skills through games, workshops, and raise awareness among all young participants about respect, equality and digital citizenship.
The Tide News reports that in Port Harcourt, the competition brought together 100 young participants from three major universities: University of Port Harcourt, ( UNIPORT),Ignatius Ajuru University of Education(IAUE) and Rivers State University (RSU)as well as students from four selected secondary schools, Oginigba comprehensive Secondary.School, Vine lnternational, Virgo predicanda lnternational, and Excellent Montessori Secondary school.
“This is an approach where girls and boys can learn, play and collaborate in a more respectful and safe space for young women, while ensuring a safe, enjoyable and respectful digital environment. It also expose young women to cyberbullying, exclusion, sexist comments and online hate,” Mrs. Lacal said.
Earlier, a game developer Sophia Nei and her. team had engaged participants in an interactive session with the theme: “Can Video Games Be Safe Spaces For Girls?”
However, Mrs Nei and her team educated the girls on the benefits and violence on online digital gaming and urged them ( participants)to learn to say ‘No’ to Online hate, sexist and cyber bullying, while encouraging them(students) to stand up for themselves by reporting such issues to the appropriate authority.
Highlight of the competition was the awarding of prizes to winners by the Director of Alliance Française, Mrs Marina Lacal.
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