By Francis Akinnodi

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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has been described as the backbone of economic growth in any country and have accounted for the successes of most businesses globally.
This is the submission of the Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI).
NASSI Chairman, Ondo State chapter, Greatsheyi Akintunde affirmed that innovation and entrepreneurship were essential for long-term economic gains and prosperity.
“SMEs provides cornerstones on which economic growth and stability of any country solidly depends.”
Citing the World Bank Report on Finances, where SMEs were pronounced to represent 90 per cent of businesses and more than 50per cent of employment globally, the NASSI boss also quoted other recent report, which said SMEs contribute 48 per cent of the National GDP and account for 96 per cent and 84 per cent of businesses and employment respectively.
“SMEs are therefore key contributors to employment, economic and export growth to the Nigerian economy”, he said.
He also explained how the increase in revenue, operational cost reduction, customer service improvement, employee experience improvement and constant innovations, were all important for enterprise productivity while laying emphasis on technology as a driving force in achieving success.
He called on government to always be at the forefront of supporting SMEs growth with leveraged on technology as tool for entrepreneurship.
“Digital innovation and entrepreneurship, has initiatives targeted at identifying and prioritising areas of support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in addition to strengthening the Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDEs) ecosystem.”
He gave the reassurance of the association’s commitment to supporting government in developing SMEs through the development of the Nigerian Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Start up Policy (NDIESP), which is in line with the Nigerian Digital Economic Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), aimed at boosting the economic growth and diversification of the country.