From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Women Enterprise Alliance (WENA), yesterday, gathered Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Abuja to offer them solutions in growing their businesses.
Speaking during the forum, the Founder of WENA, Hajia Aisha Babangida, said the event was for the SMEs to hear their stories and challenges of what they have been going through and to give them solutions.
Babangida said: “When you hear one man’s story, others can learn from it. So, this is why we are trying to find out solutions on how we can help the SMEs well.”
Asked what solutions WENA had to assist the SMEs, Babangida also said WENA had all the solutions to assist the SMEs to grow their businesses.
“All the solutions. We know for some of them, it is either technology; some of them, it is the finance because usually, the SMEs will tell you that finance is their problem, but at least, 80 percent of the time, it isn’t.
“We are giving them that coaching, that mentorship just as technology as well that will help them enhance their businesses.
“It is also a gathering for them to talk about their feelings. We have heard so many stories; emotional stories as well and some of them have been so buoyed to continue their business. It is just to make sure that they stay strong and hold on,” Babangida also said.
On plans by WENA to empower the SMEs, Babangida explained that WENA predominantly offers coaching, mentorship and access to finance.
“So, this is what we normally do and we have been doing it. And over the years, we have actually empowered a lot of entrepreneurs. We bring them into WENA for three, four months, we give them the basic education that they need to be quality entrepreneurs. And they presented their business plan and we funded some of them,” Babangida stated.
Babangida who also hinted at empowering all the SMEs present at the forum, disclosed that they all seemed to have good products.
“Maybe you might have gone round to see their products. So, I am hoping everyone. That is why we invited our partners, the Bank of Industry, Small and Medium Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), because they also have access to some kind of funding as well to support them,” Babangida further said.
Also speaking, the Head, Trade Fair and Exhibition, SMEDAN, Nasiru Gambo who represented the Director-General of SMEDAN, Olawale Fasanya, in his presentation, spoke about assisting the entrepreneurs.
“In SMEDAN, we assist entrepreneurs in so many ways. A forum like this where you find a number of people coming to showcase their products, we normally come to encourage them, to give them a word of advice and also tell them the kind of assistance that we give them for their business to move to the next level,” Gambo said.
Earlier, a fish farmer and processing entrepreneur, Maimuna Dangana-Diza, said access to the market and finance were the challenges she faced in her business.
“Most times, to get to the market, you have to go through a middleman. The middleman makes more profit than you that is doing the business, especially when you are into export. They try to create a boundary so that you can’t have access to give shop owners abroad to display your goods. Rather, they want to do it themselves and then they take up most of the profits and you, the producer, you are left with a stipend,” Dangana-Diza said.