SMEDAN Grants Licences to 150 Business Devt Service Providers

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has granted licences to over 150 Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) as part of efforts to further deepen professionalism within the ecosystem in the country.

Speaking in Lagos, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, (FMITI), Mrs. Mariam Katagum, who was represented by the Director, Industrial Development, FMITI, Mr. Adewale Bakare, said the award of certificates for BDSPs was important for the continuous growth of MSMEs in the country.

She urged the certified BDSPs to use the opportunity to contribute towards addressing challenges confronting MSMEs in Nigeria.

“The Ministry will continue supporting all entrepreneurs across Nigeria towards ensuring that we achieve the MSMEs sub-sector of our dream in areas of job, wealth creation and poverty alleviation,” she added.

Commending the programme, the Director General/ CEO of SMEDAN, Olawale Fasanya, said the agency would continue to be at the forefront of establishing a platform for enthroning professionalism within the BDS ecosystem in Nigeria as part of her mandate.

He added that, “it pleases my heart today that we have collectively put together this credible structure for ensuring that both existing and potential BDSPs have the opportunity for proving their technical competence towards supporting MSMEs in Nigeria.

“We consulted widely both within and outside the country in the run up to the establishment of the framework because our original resolve was to create a system that is geared towards setting a standard for the delivery of services by BDSPs to MSMEs in Nigeria.

“MSMEs have continuously complained about the quality and cost of services provided by various BDSPs in the past. Therefore, this framework has arrived at the most appropriate time to address the issues surrounding delivery of low-quality services at very exorbitant costs by BDSPs in Nigeria.”

According to him in cooperation with its parent ministry, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and other relevant stakeholders within the MSMEs sub-sector in Nigeria, only certified BDSPs would be allowed to deliver capacity building, mentorship, counselling and other forms of BDS to MSMEs in Nigeria.

“Furthermore, we are going to carry out comprehensive awareness creation campaigns across all states of the federation to ensure that potential BDSPs and other critical stakeholders are aware of the existence of the framework for the attendant participation.

“I, therefore, call on all stakeholders including banks, development partners, public institutions, private sector institutions to ensure that they draw their BDSPs requirements from the certified BDSPs to ensure uniformity of technical output delivery in the MSMEs ecosystem in Nigeria.

“In our determination to address the challenges confronting the MSMEs in Nigeria in a holistic manner, the agency is implementing the One Local Government One Product (OLOP) in 109 Senatorial districts in the country.

“This ambitious effort of the agency is based on the successful implementation of the pilot phase of the OLOP programme in Katsina, Kaduna, FCT, Osun and Anambra States three years ago.

“The intervention activities under OLOP, among others, include access to workspace, equipment support, access to working capital, and capacity building.”

Similarly, the agency also revealed that it has concluded the review of the National Policy on MSMEs after the document was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The DG hinted the approval was done after stakeholders’ validation exercises were undertaken across the six geo-political zones.