The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and iTEKKU, an online marketing platform, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to upscale Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) profitability and growth in the country.
At the MoU signing on Tuesday in Lagos, SMEDAN Director-General Mr. Olawale Fasanya stated that the goal was to increase the competitiveness and scalability of Nigerian MSMEs despite the country’s economic difficulties.
According to him, the development will offer several benefits and incentives, such as discounted medical insurance and counseling services for MSMEs. With the MoU, he claimed, MSMEs would have access to conduct business with customers and offer answers to their marketing issues.
Fasanya stated that the businesses would have the ability to contact with customers, validate payments, and engage in other operations while also being able to interact with customers directly by showing information, company profiles, and product offerings.
“We are excited that it is young people like you that are driving these, because part of our priority clientele are women and youths.
“We want to make sure that we work with a lot of youths with innovative ideas that can easily impact the ecosystem as we believe that you will put all your energy into this.
“There would be other initiatives that would come to complement the package, so it is not just a market place but a place MSMEs would come aboard and benefit from some incentives,” he said.
Commenting on the partnership and its benefits to MSMEs in the country, the Co-Founder, iTEKKU, Mr Olupitan Ayomide, said the company was focused on boosting MSMEs in Nigeria by upscaling them on their platform, also improving the goals of SMEDAN.
He explained that merchants, consumers and resellers, logistics and last mile delivery, credit (buy-now-pay-later) and payment systems were among the stakeholders connected to their platforms.
“iTEKKU, an online market, is a social commerce platform that enhances the concept of Business to Consumer (B2C) and provides an opportunity for MSMEs to expand.
“MSMEs are the lifeline of any economy, especially in emerging markets like Nigeria, yet, this segment of the market has limited access to the customers that require these products and services.
“Our approach seeks to address these challenges through the ITEKKU Marketplace.
“iTEKKU is solving problems across various sectors majorly targeting the MSME for them to scale up their businesses by exposing them to the markets, users that would come on our platforms to buy from them.
“They do not have to go through the stress or issues of having to do their marketing personally for themselves.
“They have a platform now where they can come and upload their catalogues for services that they offer and have access to users that can reach them and buy the products and services,” he said.
