The Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Olawale Fasanya has said the agency would continue to support entrepreneurs in order to create more jobs and alleviate poverty in Nigeria.
Mr Fasanya said this during the flag-off of the Women In Self Empowerment Empowerment Programme (WISE-P) in Katsina on Sunday.
The DG represented by Ado Bello, the agency’s director of enterprises and promotions stated the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) subsector, according to the DG, played a crucial part in the transformation of the Nigerian economy.
He claims that MSMEs are responsible for the majority of new jobs and reductions in poverty in the nation.
According to him, a countrywide survey carried out in 2020 revealed that 39.6 MSMEs employed 62.5 million people nationwide, making up 80.2% of the labor force.
He said that MSMEs and SMEDAN were collaborating with a non-governmental organization and the African Centre for Global Entrepreneurial Leadership (ACGEL) to put the Leadership Entrepreneurial Game Show (LEGS) into action in order to guarantee access to financing.
“The agency is also partnering with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Jaiz Bank and Sterling Bank to access the matching fund for micro and small enterprises,” he said.
Mr Fasanya noted that SMEDAN had implemented a specialised skills programme for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), retirees and prison inmates in six states.
He said the states included Ondo, Imo, Katsina, Borno, Rivers, and Niger.
According to him, 240 persons were empowered with entrepreneurial and vocational skills while 40 benefitted in the states.
