
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), on Friday disbursed N5 million grant to support 16 women cooperative societies in Niger towards improving their agri-businesses.
Dr. Dikko Radda, Director General SMEDAN, disclosed this in Minna at the end of a one-week training for the benefiting groups tagged, “Starting Your Own Business.”
Radda, who was represented by Mr. Folorunsho Ibrahim, the state Manager, SMEDAN, said that the programme was initiated by the agency under the Women in Self Employment Programme (WISE-P).
“It is my privilege to present dummy cheques to the four selected cooperative societies, as evidence of successful completion of this WISE-P programme.
“As you well know, in addition to the capacity building provided by the agency, each of your 16 cooperative societies have been credited with N312,500 cash grants,” he said.
He urged the women to utilize the funds in order to develop their businesses.
He said that the objective of the training was to encourage more women to embrace agri-business as a viable business option.
According to him, the training would strengthen entrepreneurship and vocational skills of existing women agri-business cooperatives.
Radda said that the measure would also facilitate networking among beneficiaries for value addition and inclusive value chain development as well as encourage the diversification of the economy away from crude oil, using agriculture.
He urged the groups to make good use of the training and financial support from the intervention to enhance their families and businesses and also to become role models in their communities.
The Director-General said that the agency would offer extension services to the cooperatives to enable them expand their agri-businesses.
Earlier, Mrs. Agnes Stephen, Principal Executive Officer, SMEDAN, Headquarters, Abuja, urged the women to utilize the funds.
Stephen said that the agency would send out field supervisors to the groups to know how the grants would be utilized.
Mrs. Grace Disa, the state Coordinator, Smallholder Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria (SWOFON), in Niger who lauded SMEDAN for the gesture, said that the funds would serve as a starting point for her group in agri-business.
Disa said that SWOFON in the state would use the money to purchase inputs to improve their agri-business.
She appealed to the government for gender friendly equipment to attract more women into agri-business.
Also, Mrs. Helen Shaba, Chairperson, Women in Agriculture in the state, also said that the group would utilize the funds to improve their agri-businesses.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that each of the 16 cooperatives are made up of 10 members. (NAN)