Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga
Emma Okonji
Google Nigeria has announced the commencement of the “Succeed Online” training series, in an effort to help Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make better use the internet in reaching more customers and meeting their business goals.
Marketing Manager for SME products at Google Nigeria, Bunmi Banjo, who spoke at a press conference in Lagos, stated that the goal of the free online training series was to educate small and medium business owners on crucial tips that would help them boost the impact of their online presence.
According to her, “it is not enough having a business website. The owners ought to understand some tips on how best to put such websites into use.”
In other words, while having a website gives businesses an opportunity to showcase their goods and services, they can further benefit from a comprehensive online presence which includes good use of social media, listings, blogs among others, she said, adding that the tools are available to them at no cost.
The “Succeed Online” training is an educational series by Google to help business owners understand how to manage a wide range of internet tools that can take their businesses to the next level. It is a part of the Get Nigerian Businesses Online program (GNBO) launched in September 2011, which has so far enabled over 25,000 SMEs in Nigeria to build their own websites for free.
The GNBO program is a joint initiative by Google and partners such as Ecobank to help SMEs create their first websites and help them make the most of the opportunities offered by the Internet.
Participants of the Succeed Online program are current GNBO website owners who have expressed interest in enhancing their online presence. Some of the topics to be covered in the training session include how to use platforms such as Google Trader to list various products and services for immediate sale; how to use social media and YouTube videos to interact with customers and get valuable feedback for improving their businesses; how to use Google’s ‘Insight for Search’ to improve the content of their websites, among others.
The training in planned in phases, and is expected to accommodate all 25,000 GNBO entrepreneurs with the stipulated period.