VP Shettima, DBN, SMEDAN, Entrepreneurs Chart Path For MSME Growth

The national authorities has reiterated its committedness to repositioning Nigeria’s micro, small, and mean enterprises (MSMEs) arsenic the bedrock of economical transformation.

Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed this astatine the 6th Annual Lecture of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) held successful Abuja connected Thursday. The vice president, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the President connected Economic Affairs (office of the VP), Dr Tope Fasua, said MSMEs remained cardinal to the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He noted that, beyond argumentation reforms, institutions specified arsenic DBN were captious successful ensuring entrepreneurs crossed Nigeria person entree to the close tools to thrive.

“MSMEs are not peripheral actors; they are the lifeblood of our economy, accounting for implicit 80 per cent of employment and making a important publication to GDP. As the authorities provides argumentation clarity and enabling infrastructure, institutions similar DBN are cardinal partners successful translating imaginativeness into action,” Shettima said.

The Vice President outlined President Tinubu’s betterment agenda, including substance subsidy removal, overseas speech unification, infrastructure renewal, quality superior concern and planetary engagement, adding that these measures were designed to stimulate enterprise, pull concern and grow opportunities for tiny businesses.

In his invited address, DBN Managing Director/CEO, Dr Tony Okpanachi, said the Bank had disbursed implicit ₦1.1 trillion to MSMEs done 79 participating fiscal institutions, reaching much than 700,000 businesses nationwide by December 2024.

Okpanachi noted that DBN was much than a financier, describing it arsenic “a convener of ideas, a builder of capacity, and a spouse successful nationalist transformation.”

Also, the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, disclosed caller policies to fortify the planetary competitiveness of Nigerian SMEs. He highlighted 4 strategical thrusts: regulatory reforms to easiness export access, proviso of shared infrastructure specified arsenic garment hubs, fiscal and non-financial enactment for expansion, and innovative logistics partnerships with firms specified arsenic God Is Good Logistics and Lifeworks.

“These are the tiny but important steps we are taking to guarantee our SMEs are not lone disposable globally but besides competitive,” helium said, noting that Nigeria’s caller “Best Pavilion” grant astatine the International Africa Trade Fair underscored the request to prolong momentum.

The keynote talker astatine the event, Kenyan entrepreneur Flora Mutahi, urged African businesses to clasp scaling arsenic a deliberate strategy to code younker unemployment crossed the continent. She warned that portion 10 to 12 cardinal youths participate the occupation marketplace annually, lone 3 to 4 cardinal ceremonial jobs are created.

Stakeholders astatine the lecture, including policymakers, entrepreneurs, and improvement financiers, agreed that Nigeria’s economy’s destiny is tied to the occurrence of its small businesses.