By Fortune Abang
The All Africa Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (AAASME) has called for deeper sensitisation aimed at making Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) stronger and repositioned for growth.
The President of AAASME, Dr Ebiekure Eradiri, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, proper sensitisation to the importance of SMEs will help create the much-needed awareness and advance business activities in Nigeria in particular and the continent at large.
Eradiri said, “There are 100 million SMEs in Africa, and then, the five regions of Africa are working with us as well, as structured for us to onboard all the SMEs.
“Interestingly, Nigeria has about 40 million SMEs, which is almost half of what you have across the continent, and so, Nigeria is critical for SME growth.
“SMEs are the engine room for economic growth. If SMEs are not active or not available, then how can you drive the AFCFTA effectively, which is the area we live in?.
“Therefore, there is a need for sensitisation to enable more people to harness the potential.
“SMEs should feature properly in all societies and take advantage of local and international markets, access opportunities for linkages, and be able to access finance that is critical to SME growth”.
He reiterated the need to stimulate SME operations’ ecosystem to bolster sustainable growth in the country.
The president stressed the major challenge facing SMEs had been that of critical engagement to ensure such goal is fully realised.
“There is a nexus between the private sector, business, and security. If you do not have a stable environment, you cannot even do business profitably.
“So, what we encourage is for SMEs to be prioritised, to perhaps help in silencing the guns through a platform for critical mass to engage in business ventures.
“By so doing, more people can get busy doing businesses that yield profit and, as such, not have time to carry guns. This is key to ensure the sustainability of the nation’s economy,” he said. (NAN)
Edited by Yinusa Ishola/Emmanuel Yashim
