#Features

ODSG’s initiative to succour SMEs

By Sunmola Olowookere

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Small and medium scales industries hold an important part in any economy; be it developed, developing or under-developed. It contributes its own quota to the gross domestic product of any nation.

It also provides employment opportunities especially in a nation where white collar jobs are not readily available. Especially in a nation like Nigeria which churns out thousands of graduates yearly into the labour market yet had no employment machinery in place to absorb them.

Hence, the place of SMEs in the industrial sector cannot be ignored.

Unfortunately, small and medium scales industries are not having the best of times currently. Things are not moving well as many have thrown in the towel while many more are floundering and are at the verge of folding up.

With the precarious situation that the sector is in, entrepreneurs need societal response and sustainability strategy to drive the sector and guarantee the survival of the sector.

Practically, the industrial sector is in comatose due to lack of constant electricity, good road network, lack of raw materials, insecurity, killing tax system, to mention a few.

These are some of the reasons fingered for the exhorbitant cost of products as the food processors too make ends meet and break even.

Recently, the National President, Association of Food and Agro-processors, Duro Kuteyi had lamented the dire straits which food processors in the nation are immersed in.

He had launched an appeal to the government at all tiers to factor in the Small and Medium Enterprises in the scheme of things saying that as the government is offering support for the large industries, it should not neglect them while observing that government rarely make reference to them.

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He said that these small and medium scale industries are inundated with problems that hinder their optimal production such as unavailability of raw materials, lack of good roads and poor storage facilities due to poor electricity supply.

He urged government at all levels to take care of them in terms of strategic grain reserve, empowerment among other levels of support.

Kuteyi expressed that these will go a long way in sustaining them in business and providing continued employment opportunities for the workers,

He canvassed a sustainable process of grain preservation likewise tomatoes which he boasted that when it was being wasted as it gets rotten easily, it was the SME’s that saved the day as it designed a programme based on government’s concern.

In the programme, people were trained on how to process tomatoes with about 5000 beneficiaries while some of them have Kickstarted their own tomatoes processing unit.

In a bid to give succour to this group, Ondo State government recently approved business support for 1,000 striving small businesses in the state to improve their legal identity and compliance.

The Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had approved the payment of Corporate Affairs Commission registration for 1,000 businesses and ordered the Chief Executive Officer of the Ondo State Entrepreneurship Agency (ONDEA), and his Special Adviser on Entrepreneurship Development, Dr. Smart Francis to ensure the perfection of their registration.

In a report, he stated that the major challenges stopping Ondo State entrepreneurs from accessing grants, loans and other forms of financial help for their business are two folds which include lack of knowledge and lack of proper business structure.

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Due to these factors, a lot of small businesses have remained grounded and are unable to look beyond the government for help.

Entrepreneurs across the state have ample access to this opportunity and more information on how the benefit will be made available on the agency’s official website, Francis said.

As part of Akeredolu’s administration mandate to create massive jobs opportunities through entrepreneurship, the government is on track to create massive jobs by supporting small businesses as much as possible even as ONDEA continues to equip them with knowledge and skill sets to build and scale their businesses.

Knowledge is power. Many small scale businesses have failed to access the support they need due to law of prerequisite knowledge on how to go about it.

Armed with the CAC certificate, it is indeed a step in the right direction.

Also, the empowerment and sustaining the Amotekun Corps has played a huge role in providing security for the farmers who had fled the farms when the bandits raged before the advent of Amotekun Corps.

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