SMEDAN to Elevate Small-scale Enterprise Lab’s MBA

Dike Onwuamaeze 

The Director General/CEO of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Charles Odii, hasb expressed the agency’s interest to elevate to national event the activities of the Small-Scale Enterprise Lab (SSE Lab), which promote small and medium-scale enterprises through its Manufacturing Business Accelerator’s (MBA).

Odii, who was represented by Lagos State Manager, SMEDAN, Dr. Olubunmi Kole-Dawodu, expressed this view in Lagos on Thursday during the MBA Business Shower Cohort 2 Graduation and Business Showcase ceremony with the theme “Innovation, Inclusion and Impact: Redefining MSMEs in Nigeria’s Economy.”

He said: “Our interest is to take this further than what it is now and expand it and make it a grand-national event. This is very dear to SMEDAN as a federal government’s agency in Nigeria.”

He said that according to statistics, there are over 40 million SMEs in Nigeria.

“The number we have in is bout 100 out of 40 million enterprises, which is like a drop in the ocean. We need more ideas (numbers) because it is our collective efforts and not just the SMEDAN’s will develop our eco-system. The more we come together, the more we put all hands on deck, the more we ae going to achieve for SMEs in Nigeria,” Odii said.

In her welcome remarks, the Founder/Convener of SSE Lab, Ms. Desola Jimmy-Eboma, said that the MBA is designed to equip small scale entrepreneurs with knowledge, tools and mentorship they need to transform ideas and side hustles into scalable, sustainable ventures.

Jimmy-Eboma said: “In just 90 days, our participants journey through a process of discovery, validation and execution, emerging with products ready for market and businesses ready to thrive . So, the Business Showers are more than a graduation ceremony.”