• Friday, March 29, 2024
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SMEs need tech, innovation to become globally competitive – experts

The African SME story: LPG for Nigeria’s growth
The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria have been urged to be innovative and persistent in leveraging technology to remain sustainable in the global market.
This advice dominated discussions when experts came together to discuss the topic, ‘Sustainability and Innovation: Pathway to business success for SMEs,’ during the African Food and Products Exhibition, organised by the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce in Lagos, recently.
It is important for SMEs to have strong organisational structure and focus on the need for innovative technology, as these constitute a pathway to business success in today’s technologically driven world, Oluwatoyin Akomolafe, national president, Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, said.
“I would like to urge our SMEs to take ownership of their own success and future,” Akomolafe advised.
He acknowledged the positive impact oil had made to the Nigerian economy, but was sceptical if Nigeria’s futuristic growth could be sustained with the same source. Hence, it is important as a nation to diversify to generate revenue for the country.
“This is precisely where SMEs’ sustainability and innovation play their role in contributing to economic prosperity,” he noted.
Brent Omdahl, commercial counsellor, US Mission to Nigeria, representing John Bray, consul general, Lagos, said Nigeria could become world super power in agriculture if it could shift attention from what it had been known as oil super power to agriculture.
Omdahl said through being innovative, creative and leveraging technology over the coming years, Nigeria could have an agricultural produce in the global market synonymous with Nigerian name.
“I asked myself, in the next 50 years, what product will the Nigerian people give to the world that bears Nigerian signature?” he queried.
On his part, Akomolafe noted that the contribution of SMEs sustainability and innovation to economic prosperity had grown with the shift of the global economy towards a mode of production in which knowledge had become a key input.
In this regard, he advocated for government policies that were based on sound understanding of how new and small firms innovate for sustainability.
“The threat of disruptive technology is real and has come to stay. Innovation with strong corporate structure is the key to unlocking the success from value-adding to value-creation,” he said.
Tim Akano, CEO, New Horizons Nigeria, said while leveraging technology for growth, there was the need to pay adequate attention to what Nigerians post on their social media platforms. This is because the first point of call to check one’s identity is the social media. Gone are the days when employers or potential business partners rely on third party’s recommendation, he said.
Referring to the marketing strategy known as ‘blue ocean,’ Akano advised the SMEs to always try to be the ‘first mover,’ saying that big movers always make the money first before other competitors come into the market.
“Nigerians need to start to be first movers instead of followers,” he said, and encouraged business owners to move along with the new trend in technological advancement, saying it was where the world was today.
“Anything you want to do, if such does not conform with phone, forget it,” he said.
Akin Banuso, general manager, Microsoft Nigeria, said technology could do much more things for SMEs, ranging from searching for customers online to keeping records of clients and owning a big store online, without opening a physical store. He added that SMEs must be up to date in the daily activities in technology.
“To compete favourably, SMEs must use technology to do much bigger things with Artificial Intelligence rather than manual,” he said.