Fate Foundation’s Policy Dialogue to Address Entrepreneurship Bottlenecks Holds Tomorrow

Gilbert Ekugbe

Worried by the challenges hindering the growth of entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, Fate Foundation has announced plans to hold its annual FATE Institute Policy Dialogue Series on Entrepreneurship scheduled to hold tomorrow at the Ecobank Pan-African Center Victoria Island Lagos.

Indeed, Fate Foundation stated that the theme tagged “The State of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria 2023: Policy Priorities for Nano, Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (NMSMEs)” is the 9th edition that would gather policy experts and influencers, enterprise support organisations, entrepreneurs and ecosystem stakeholders across public and private sectors development to address pertinent entrepreneur challenges based on data from the research institute of the foundation unit.

The Executive Director of FATE Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi, during a press briefing at the foundation office in Lagos, faulted reforms of the Federal and State Governments, noting that they have negatively impacted 90 per cent of businesses and entrepreneurs in the country.
The organisation State of Entrepreneurship (SoE) in Nigeria Report for 2023, said that the effects include high operating costs, loss of customers and less profit, due to weak aggregate demand for goods and services.

Senior Research Fellow at The FATE Institute Senior Economist, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Wilson Erumebor, said in the last year, entrepreneurs faced the challenges of high costs of doing business, occasioned by COVID 19, Naira scarcity, fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate reforms, poor power supply, among other factors.

He added that the challenges impacted negatively on smaller businesses than bigger ones, adding that entrepreneurs in the South-East were the most affected, and those in the South-South had least of suffering relative to other regions.

Erumebor said indicators for the measurements include business performance, skills acquisition, innovation and technology adoption, perception of opportunities and enabling business environment.

The Executive Director of FATE Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi, named the five best-performing states in NMSMEs as Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Borno and Bayelsa, while those with least scores consist of Yobe, Niger, Taraba, Osun and Zamfara.

Fate Institute Director Amaka Nwokolo said the policy dialogue will lead to recommendations that will sharpen and influence policy reform around entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

She urged the government to implement policies and regulations that dismantle the bottlenecks in the way of businesses across sectors.

The Annual FATE Institute Policy Dialogue Series on Entrepreneurship is an exciting platform that gathers influential stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, including Nigeria, to engage in discussions centered around evidence-based policy strategies. The ultimate aim is to drive sustainable entrepreneurship policy change through insightful conversations and collaboration. This series serves as a catalyst for shaping and influencing policies that support and encourage entrepreneurship, fostering an environment conducive to long-term success and growth in the entrepreneurial landscape.