Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) has promised to partner with Business Membership Organisations (BMOs) for effective coordination of the activities of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
SMEDAN’s Director-General, Dr Dikko Umaru-Radda, said this on Wednesday in Ilorin in his address of welcome at the 2021 MSME support organisation dialogue.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Umaru-Radda was represented by Mrs Charity Abah, Coordinator of North-Central zone of the agency.
NAN also reports that the dialogue has, as its theme: “MSME Support Organisations Synergise Towards Effective Coordination of MSME Activities in Nigeria”.
According to him, the dialogue is to ensure a seamless development of the MSME sub-sector in Nigeria, adding that it will also provide a veritable platform for exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience as well as dissemination of new research findings.
“At the end of this programme, we hope to have come up with a key design and improvement articulations, which will be shared and discussed with MSME stakeholders for effective coordination of the activities of MSMEs.
“SMEDAN is desirous of entering into a new strategic partnership with the MSME support organisations and BMOs in both the private and public sectors to enhance the operational efficiency of MSMEs across the country.
“With this partnership, SMEDAN will work synergistically with these organisations to reposition the MSMEs for national, continental and global competitiveness, especially with the take-off of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.
“The overall output of this renewed partnership will be geared towards meeting the yearnings of the MSMEs across Nigeria. This is a partnership that we are very eager to bring to fruition,” he said.
The director-general said that the micro, small and medium enterprises sub-sector was considered the engine room of socio-economic transformation globally.
“The sub-sector can generate more jobs than any other, create wealth and reduce the prevalence of poverty and youth restiveness, if property harnessed and coordinated.
“It will stimulate and trigger widespread economic growth and development, improve per capita income and step up capacity utilisation in key industries.
“As part of our mandate, SMEDAN has developed many programmes to ease access to basic needs of MSMEs in Nigeria,” Umaru-Radda said.
He listed the target participants in the dialogue to include: MSMEs support organisations in the private and public sectors, regulatory agencies, BMOs, state Ministry of Commerce and Industry and small business operators.
Umaru-Radda added that the initiative was conceived as a platform to bring together major stakeholders in the MSMEs ecosystem to discuss the challenges inhibiting the growth and development of MSMEs.
This, he said, was with a view to repositioning the sub-sector to thrive despite the economic recession and post- COVID-19 pandemic challenges.
According to him, the dialogue will discuss the challenges confronting MSME development in Nigeria and find ways of leveraging public-private partnership for synergy towards its development.
He also said that it would endeavour to chart a new working relationship between the MSME support organisations and BMOs of both the federal and state governments.
The dialogue, according to the DG, will enhance the effectiveness of government MSME support organisations for better service delivery and sensitise the MSMEs on the take-off of the African Continental.
NAN reports that participants in the dialogue were drawn from Kwara, Niger, Benue, Kogi and Plateau states. (NAN)
