Edo Trains 150 MSMEs on Financial Mgt, Business Funding

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city

The Edo State Government has trained 150 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) owners in the state on entrepreneurship and financial management, connecting them to funding opportunities to help them grow their businesses.

Declaring the training programme open in Benin-city, the state Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Cooperative, Afishetu Braimoh, said the state planned to train and empower over 600 MSMEs across the three senatorial districts of the state.

Braimoh said the training would accelerate their entrepreneurial growth and empower them with the requisite financial knowledge to thrive in their businesses so as to contribute significantly to the state economy.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Director of MSMEs Development in the Ministry, Mr. Omonbude Oyedoh, noted that 400 are being trained from Edo South, 100 from Edo North and 100 from Edo Central.

She said: “Hundred MSMEs were trained during the first batch; 150 in the second batch, and now for the third batch, which will last for a week, we are training 150 MSMEs on financial literacy.”

Noting that the objective of the workshop is to ensure that state government scheme or other sources of funding meets the capital need of successful participating MSMEs, Braimoh added: “The ministry is working towards ensuring that successful participants are linked to sources of funds by bringing them information and encouraging them to apply for available funds.”

The commissioner said the state government has sponsored seven successful participants from the first training session to the Lagos-NASSI International Trade Fair, where they will meet global leaders and other stakeholders in the MSMEs ecosystem.

Speaking to participants at the workshop, one of the facilitators, Etiosa Ugiagbe, who spoke on ‘Understanding Entrepreneurship: Survival vs Sustainable Enterprise’, added: “For any business to survive, it must be well-organised, properly structured with trusted staff and a platform of sustainability.”

Another participants, Abigail Aizebamwan, commended the state government for the training, noting that the programme is an empowerment initiative connecting them to funding and boosting their knowledge of financial literacy.