Lagos says N25bn ETF has empowered 4,000 SMEs

Governor of Lagos State Akinwunmi Ambode says some 4,000 Small Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the state have so far been empowered through the N25 billion Employment Trust Fund (ETF) initiated by the state government.
Ambode said the successes of the small businesses, which are the engine of growth in any economy, were expected to impact on the economy of Lagos, and further boost its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The ETF was set up by the state government to assist existing and up-starting businesses secure loans at single-digit interest rate, with the aim to generating more jobs and taking unemployed youths off the streets.
Governor Ambode, who received a delegation from Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), on a courtesy visit to the State House, Wednesday, said deliberate efforts had been made by his administration to encourage budding entrepreneurs in the state.
“There is no way under this economic recession that we have found ourselves that we can employ all the people qualified and seeking for jobs. So, the best thing is to create a framework that would allow them to dissipate their energy and creativity into the things that they would love to do.
“That’s why we set up the Employment Trust Fund with a budget of N25billion to be able to touch those younger ones that would not necessarily have the capital to recreate their skills and so far so good in the last two years we have done almost about 4000 entrepreneurs and we are doing more.”
He said he was excited that the Legatum Centre had discovered the importance of Africa as a key part of the map to driving innovation as well as entrepreneurship, and Lagos as one of its major city partners.
The governor explained that the creation of the ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment by his government was in consonance with the ideals of the Legatum Centre, assuring he would do everything necessary to sustain the partnership beyond entrepreneurship.
“I am committing the state government that we would continue to support this, we would make sure that we would support this. I am excited that in the next two days, you would be finding new entrepreneurs that can come into this enterprise bracket. We would also like to support in any way that we can promote these younger ones.”
Georgina Flatter, the executive director, MIT, said the team was in Lagos to liaise with entrepreneurs in the state and build sustainable partnerships going forward.
She noted that the MIT team had spent the last few days touring eco systems and visiting entrepreneurs and ventures across Lagos, describing the experience so far as most inspiring.

 
JOSHUA BASSEY