…Begins training of trainers to improve capacity
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s (UNIDO)’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO), Nigeria, has called for the formulation of effective strategies to address the increasing inability of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to grow in Nigeria, with recent studies showing that only 20 per cent of SMEs manage to survive in the country.
Coordinator, ARCEIT Programme, UNIDO ITPO, Bahrain, Mr. Afif Barhoumi, who made the observation at the opening ceremony of a four-day training programme organised by UNIDO ITPO Nigeria for selected Federal Government agencies in the country, stressed the need for continuous enterprise development and investment promotion to key stakeholders.
“Although everybody in Nigeria desires to become an entrepreneur, only 40 per cent of the dreamers get to start, but no more than 20 per cent survive,” he said, adding that MDAs need to entrench enterprise development and investments promotion as a key strategy to end the scourge.
“The training will also equip the SMEs with survival and growth skills needed to thrive and take advantage of investment and trade opportunities in local, regional and international business environments,” he noted.
Head, UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodumu, said the need for capacity building of MDAs was inevitable if the Federal Government would play its role of supporting SMEs to grow.
She further noted that if adequately supported, SMEs in Nigeria would grow into big businesses and possibly conglomerates, whose products will compete with world-class products elsewhere in the world.
“Nigeria used to be a mono-economy but when the fortune of oil waned, government decided to diversify the economy. Agriculture is a very viable source of economic diversification and we hope that Federal Government agencies will take advantage of the knowledge sharing afforded by this training,” she added.