SMEDAN calls for dedicated banks to fund SMEs

SMEDAN calls for dedicated banks to fund SMEs
Hauwa Noroh Ali, Abuja

The need for dedicated banks to fund Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria to ease their financial difficulties, which hinder their maximum capacity to grow, has been stressed by the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar.

The DG noted this while receiving a team from the Deutcshe Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German organization working on a new private sector development programme aimed at improving the access of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to financial services.

Huge impact on economy

The development programme, named Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria (SEDIN), aims at fostering employment within MSMEs through an improved business enabling environment.

Umar noted the similarities in the mandates of SMEDAN and SEDIN and said that while funding posed the greatest challenge to the development of MSMEs in Nigeria, SMEDAN remained committed to helping them surmount all challenges in the course of their growth and development.

This, he said, was achieved through partnership with donor agencies, financial institutions and other government agencies that could make positive impact in the sustainability of the MSMEs.

Earlier at the interactive session of the two bodies, which was held at the SMEDAN Headquarters in Abuja, the visiting Advisors from GIZ, Mr. Alexander Speed and Mr. Klaus Reiner, in company of the Local Economic Development Coordinator, Margaret Joshua expressed excitement at the prospect of a possible collaboration with SMEDAN.

They added that the objectives of the Cooperation programme would have a huge impact on the nation’s economy with the support of the Federal Government.

Speed said that the promotion of selected value chains from three selected states in Nigeria, including Niger State, would enable the programme to ascertain the effects of Nigeria’s financial sector reforms in line with the needs of the target group and conditions at federal, state and local government levels.

Programme approach

He said, “Embedded in the Financial Sector Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) and the strategic approaches for private-sector development under the general Vision 20:2020, our programme will adopt an integral capacity development approach at the interface of public, private and financial sectors.’’

Reiner said that support would be given to reviewing the microfinance policy, the regulation and certification of microfinance banks and introduction of micro-insurance.

In his words, “of prime concern are reforms in land and company registration, planning and taxation systems just as we are also looking at providing support to Nigeria in regional convergence with ECOWAS, which we assure, would promote the implementation of ECOWAS protocols at national level.”

Public private partnership

He noted that the programme would assist in raising awareness among decision makers on issues of financial and private sector development, joint identification, planning and implementation of ‘visible’ pilot measures and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) at local and state levels and the systematic channeling of lessons learnt into policy dialogue.

“It is also hoped that our programme would strengthen institutions entrusted with the coordination and implementation of economic development measures in the public, private and financial sectors as we would offer advisory and qualification services to their specialist and executive personnel,” Reiner said

He added that to raise the economic efficiency and sustainability of the programme, experience from promoting selected value chains would be transferred to other supply chains while specific value chains selected would be those that afford employment opportunities to underprivileged sections of the Nigerian population to ensure a broad impact.

Shakira/Williams