Nigeria – Experts at the ongoing Annual National Management Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management on Monday, revealed several policy frameworks and doable initiatives the government might take in order to support entrepreneurs and small enterprises and promote economic growth.
The experts stressed the need for immediate policy reviews and the implementation of regulatory measures with effective enforcement mechanisms through ongoing monitoring and evaluation through various presentations that centered on the conference’s overall theme, “Public Policy Management and Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria.”
In her welcome address, the acting President of the Institute Dr (Mrs) Christiana Atako, said this year’s conference was arrived at “when the Institute came to the sad realisation that one of the major reasons the nation’s economy has not made meaningful progress over the years is the scant regard for putting in place appropriate public policies that drive entrepreneurship development.”
She advised that “entrepreneurship can be encouraged by efforts ranging from specific targeted support such as technical assistance to small firms to general macro policies aimed at maintaining a stable economic environment. It should be noted, however, that small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) policy does not parallel entrepreneurship policy. Small and medium enterprises policy involves policies directed specifically at supporting SMEs (including self-employment) and can be justified on several grounds. This policy approach commonly involves the creation of specific government agencies that support SMEs in a range of small-firm support programmes and subsidies.”
Mr. Bisi Oni, the Chief Executive Officer of Fundquest Financial Services and the primary speaker, lamented the pitiful lack of attention that business owners receive from all levels of government despite the fact that they employ a sizable number of people and account for nearly half of Nigeria’s GDP.
Oni emphasized the importance of the nation’s business environment, adding that conducting business in Nigeria is still difficult and harmful to small enterprises. A streamlined tax payment system, easy business registration, and access to credit facilities are just a few of the policies that can help small businesses expand, he observed.
“Business-friendly public policy is correlated with a lower poverty headcount at the economy level. The conduit for poverty reduction is business creation, both as a source of new jobs and as a manifestation of thriving entrepreneurship,” he said.
In a different presentation, Habu Mohammed, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Bayero University in Kano, discussed how the business environment is dynamic and affected by both internal and external influences.
“Essentially, what makes businesses thrive in this environment is the ability of the public authority to initiate regulatory measures with effective enforcement mechanisms through constant monitoring and evaluation.
“Administrative issues, such as bureaucracy, corruption and policy inconsistency, can best be addressed where good governance is at the heart of policy issues. There is also the need to address the key challenge of infrastructure, especially epileptic power supply in order to stop the exodus of manufacturing industries from the country,” Mohammed posited.
