The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) has entered into a partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to set up a formal academy to train and equip small business operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria with the requisite knowledge to help their day-to-day activities and deepen their contributions to the country’s economic growth.
In developing the framework for the training academy, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and UNIDO will design the implementation plan to kick-start the project.
Speaking at a meeting with the UNIDO delegation led by Jean Bakole in Abuja, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite initiated the plan to develop the capacity of MSMEs operators through strategies training.
According to a statement by the media Unit of the Minister, the idea was prompted by the high rate of collapse of small businesses which lack the requisite knowledge to survive Nigeria’s market realities.
“The statistics for success as a startup are very bad. Five out of 100 survive and a lot of it goes to issues including inability to access credit, and the link to the market that needs their services.
“We want to help them to overcome market challenges and we will look at different models and consider those models that helped China and India churn out successful start-ups and unicorns. We will adopt and domesticate whatever model that made China and India strong SME and industrial countries”, she added.
The statement explained that participants at the academy will be selected by SMEDAN, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), the Nigerian Association of Small Medium Enterprises (NASME) and the various UN women groups in different units of the MSME sector.
“Let us have a training school, a business finishing school where our SMEs will come in, even if it is for a three-month programme covering principles of accounting, marketing and other areas of which they must show a good understanding, to get a certificate and also qualify for access to credit”.
“We will partner with existing schools like the Lagos Business School and universities to design the curriculum and also form a consortium of partners that will include SMEDAN, the Bank of Industry and other organisations that can help to fund the training school.
“That way, I am sure we will have trained MSMEs that can lead this country to real economic growth”, the Minister noted
While speaking, Jean Bakole stated that UNIDO will play a huge role in the project having attended to several SMEs in the past using several tools.
“The UN body will employ a strategy similar to what it used to identify 174 sanitiser manufacturers across the country which it trained for two weeks and provided with equipment during the pandemic. It will also support them for a year”, he said.
The UNIDO delegation at the meeting included Mr. Reuben Bamidele, Mr. Osuji Otu, Mr. Oluyomi Laniyan, Ms Helen Iji and Ms Emem Umana.
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