Economy underperforming due to weak SMEs sector

To address the underperformance of the Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) sector to the nation’s economy, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has earmarked N300 billion for the development of the sector over the next three years. It said the move was to make funds accessible for entrepreneurs to start up and expand their businesses in the country.The acting Managing Director, BoI, Waheed Olagunju, explained that the Development Finance Institution (DFI) had so far disbursed about N15 billion to SMEs, creating about 600,000 jobs in the country.Indeed, BoI emphasised the need to develop the SME sector, adding that most economies of the world have been able to transform their economies paying serious attention to SME growth.He noted that the Nigerian economy has underperformed over the past years due to the weak SME sector while urging entrepreneurs to take advantage of investment opportunities in the nation’s power, construction and other sectors begging for investment.Olagunju, during the 20th yearly public lecture organised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN), tagged: “SMEs as catalyst for sustained economic growth in Nigeria”, said Nigeria must promote SMEs using areas where the nation has competitive and comparative advantage.He, however, commended the federal government policies instructing that certain percentages of government purchases must come from patronizing SMEs in the country, saying this would bring some increased level of relevance to the sector.“We are going to help in building capacity for those SMEs to ensure that they are competitive in terms of quality and in terms of price. Our products have to be competitive and of the right quality,” he said.He stated that the sector is still faced with myriad of challenges ranging from market access, weak local patronage of made-in-Nigeria goods, power supply, finance, information and lack of technology as a result of over-dependence on expensive sophisticated imported technology.His words: “. Source: Guardian