FG Tasked on Seamless Registration, Access to Credit for NSMEs

Dike Onwuamaeze 

The Convener of Ascend360 Conference and Principal, Blaque Swann Legal Practitioners, Ms. Titilope Adisa-Obafemi, has called on the federal government to make the process of business registration in Nigeria seamless in order to encourage informal micro and small enterprises to formalise their businesses.

Adisa-Obafemi also called on the government to restructure the Bank of Industry (BOI) in a manner that would enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to have easier access to cheaper funds.

She made these calls on Saturday during the first edition of the Blaque Swann’s “Ascent360 Conference” with the theme “Build, Protect, Grow,” which was convened to equip entrepreneurs with the knowledge, legal frameworks and growth strategies needed to build, protect and scale their businesses.

Adisa-Obafemi said that the government should “make business registration a bit more seamless because a lot of people want to register their businesses but because of the registration process is not smooth at the moment they end up not registering their businesses.”

She added: “Another thing is that the government should restructure the BOI in such a way that the SMEs can have easier access to loans at lower interest rates.”

She suggested that one of the ways to encourage financial institutions to channel funds at lowered lending interest rate is for the government to integrate the data in the hands of identity management agencies in the country so that every Nigerian would have a traceable identification number.

“The government should consolidate the identity management systems in the country in order to have proper social security numbers that will make it easier for banks to track their debtors,” Adisa-Obafemi said.

She stated that the Blaque Swann Legal Practitioners support business owners with free business registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) every year to facilitate their transition from informal to formal business outfits.

According to her, “one of the things we are doing to empower entrepreneurs is to tell them the specific laws that apply to their businesses so that they can transact their businesses within the canvas of the laws.”

Also during the event, Pastor Tunde Adisa, spoke on “The Unseen Foundation: Building with Faith, Vision and Discipline.”

Adisa told the attendees that everyone, whether in business, marriage and family are building his or her life and should be careful because the impacts would start emerging in the near future.