MSMEs is engine for economic growth, poverty reduction – Fasanya

Akpan Umoh, Uyo

Olawale Fasanya, Acting Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), on Thursday said that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) remain the engine for critical economic growth and poverty reduction in the country.

Fasanya said this in his welcome address during the 2022 Management retreat for the Agency held in Uyo on Thursday.

Our correspondent reports that the theme of the two-day retreat is, “Bridging Organisational Gaps for MSMEs Development.”

He said the retreat would look at the challenges facing the Agency and strategise on ways to reposition the SMEDAN towards effective service delivery to MSMEs sub-sector in the country.

Fasanya said that the COVID-19 pandemic had really affected the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

He said that the impacts of the pandemic had resulted in trade deficits and losses for nearly all the key sectors of the economy.

He said that the retreat was organised to address the challenges confronting the agency across the country and tasked participants to brainstorm in finding solutions.

According to him, challenges confronting the Agency in the country include, inadequate funding, poorly structured, staffed, and funded state and zonal outstation, among others.

The acting director-general said that based on a recent national survey, there has been a reduction in the number of MSMEs from 41 million to 39 million in the country.

Fasanya said that the reduction had adversely affected employment, affected Nigerian families, and the economies of the nation.

“I urge you to take ownership of this retreat by providing uncensored feedback on all our shortcomings.

“I am fully convinced that we can address identified gaps within ourselves.

“The idea of bringing us together outside the confines of the office is to be able to cross-fertilise ideas and harvest robust suggestions which will impact positively on our Agency, ” Fasanya said.

He said that the retreat was an opportunity to address several internal and external obstacles that over time hindered the development of the most important sector of the economy.

Speaking to one of the participants, Mr Onesi Lawani, Deputy Director of the Agency, said the retreat was arranged to brainstorm on how to solve the agency’s internal problems.

Lawani said the retreat was meant for the management staff of the agency across the six geopolitical zones of the country to tackle the challenges confronting the organisation

In his goodwill message, the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Mr Camillus Umoh, said that MSMEs are the bedrock of the economy because they were substantially exposed to business ideas.

Umoh urged SMEDAN to bring policies that would enhance MSMEs business across the country.