In a bid to empower small businesses, particularly nanoenterprises, the Association of Cottage Industrialists of Nigeria (ACIN) is planning to train over 980,000 businesses across the country.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja, the National Executive Secretary of ACIN, Amb. Oluwasegun Mulemora, emphasised the need to share information on new developments as a means to boost the productivity of nanoenterprises in Nigeria.
Mulemora explained that, “If you have a close relationship with us (ACIN), in each state, we have what we call a group in the state.
“Inside that group in the state, we have what we call a cluster group. Inside that cluster group, we have 25 people under a cluster group.
“We have an app that we are using to give loans at zero interest rate to our members; however, we charge them a management fee because of some administrative charges. That is the only thing we charge them on the loan.”
He lamented that “our capacity is so low that we cannot do exploits. We cannot do more than what we have done, and we want to go downstream to make sure we train small business holders.”
“Like the last program we did with the Bank of Industry (BOI), I told them the organisation, ACIN, can guarantee anybody for you. Why? We have a cluster group, and each member that is in a cluster group must have three people who will guarantee them to be a member of the organisation.
“Then, in the membership form, you need a civil servant who will guarantee you again. So, if we now guarantee such a person for any loan anywhere, then believe me, it is safe,” the National Executive Secretary stated.
Oluwasegun called on BOI and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to deal directly with the association in disbursing funds to small businesses in the country.
“In their meetings, if anybody in a state defaults, the whole group in the state will have 100 Naira deducted from their money to repay the loan.”
“So, these are the structures that we have put in place to ensure safety. We are hoping that with this loan we are applying for at BOI, we will be getting up to 10,000 slots.”
He said the planned training will be held across all the local governments of the federation to ensure everyone is carried along.
On his part, the representative of the BOI, Ozovehe, said the bank is supporting small businesses to grow and also support the economy of the country.
The representative of SMEDAN, Awojolu Olabode, expressed the commitment of the agency in supporting nano and other small businesses to grow.
ACIN has chapters in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, with local government coordinating areas across Nigeria.
Membership is open to nano, micro, & small enterprises, with a membership strength of 6,000, including 50% women, 30% youth, and 20% consultants, with a retention rate.
The association is a major player in the area of nano, micro, & small enterprises in manufacturing, farming, animal husbandry, and the value chain of agricultural commodities.
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