Nume Ekeghe
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) have launched a fully equipped hub.
The initiative was part of efforts to promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
In the same vein, the Chairman, Governing Board, SMEDAN, Mr. Femi Pedro, has commended the federal government on its various support towards SME development.
However, he stressed the need for more to be done to enhance capacity building of SME operators.
Speaking at the launch of the Enterprise Hub, which is situated at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, the Director General SMEDAN, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, said the agency plans to duplicate hubs nationwide.
The centre is fully equipped with amenities to support entrepreneurs and have an array number of mentors to cater to various spares of businesses.
He said “As you are aware, MSMEs have been known all over the world to be the engine of the economic growth and contribute to the employment generation of any nation’s wealth creation, poverty alienation, and food security.
“It is therefore imperative, that we globally position and develop this important sub-sector, to generate the much-needed employment in the Nigeria economy.
“All the challenges militating against optimum performance of the sub-sector must be confronted head on. In addressing these challenges and the execution of our mandate, a lot of gap in the provision of business development support services especially had been identified in major economic cities across Nigeria.”
He added: “As part of efforts to address challenges faced by these MSMEs in these two cities, the agency established the Enterprise Hubs – the Enterprise Hub in Bauchi, using the premises of Abubaka Tafawa Balewa University. Ultimately, the Enterprise Hub will be located in all the geopolitical zones in the country.
“Enterprise Hub is an integrated network of online and digital resource centers for emerging enterprises. The platform is for promotion of businesses across Africa, cooperate shared work space, virtual offices, contemporary business hub, online business to business market place, business support services, and a complete enterprise development services. It is a system that re-defines the way we live, work and learn.”
“The benefits of Enterprise Hubs are to significantly reduce the cost of basic facilities utilised by startups. Such as, office space facilities, high speed internet, and power. In other words, the role of the Enterprise Hub is to accelerate the successful development of MSME’s through provision and hiring of business resources and services.”
Also, Pedro said: “President Muhammadu Buhari has done quite a lot for SMEs in Nigeria and many of the programs are already known by everybody, particularly those that have to do with social programs like the school feeding programs and those that assist young graduates.”
