Wale Fasanya, the recently appointed Director General of the Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), has stated that the agency is committed to enhancing the growth and development of MSMEs across the country.
Mr. Fasanya spoke in Abuja while receiving a team from Vanguard Newspapers Limited and The Economic Forum Series® EFS, who paid him a courtesy visit to brief him on the upcoming 3rd Annual MSME Summit, which will be held on July 28th, 2022 at the Civic Center, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos, and is conceptualized, curated, and convened by The Economic Forum Series® EFS in partnership with Vanguard Newspapers.
The SMEDAN CEO, who acknowledged the significant role that small and medium firms can play in Nigeria’s economic progress, stated that his organization was working with banks and other stakeholders to build a platform to alleviate the financial stress that small investors suffer in the country.
“We are working to develop both policy and financing framework to assist our small and medium scale investors to overcome the funding challenges that they face daily in their bid to improve their performance and add value to the economy,” the director general said.
“By the time we are through with what we are doing to improve funding for MSMEs in Nigeria, those engaged in the business will have easier access to financing at cheaper rate. We are going to even link the small investors with banks so that they can have direct access to available funding sources in the country,” Fasanya said.
Mr. Jude Ndu, Director, Vanguard Conferences and The Economic Forum Series (EFS) Strategic Partnership, said he was in the SMEDAN DG’s office to formally share and inform him of the upcoming MSME summit and to urge the agency’s full involvement in the event given existing partnerships.
Mr. Ndu was accompanied on the tour by Soni Daniel, the Northern Region Editor of Vanguard Newspapers, and Mr. Kayode Ajala, the Head of Adverts.
