With global advancement in technological innovation and artificial intelligence, industry stakeholders have called on the Nigeria entrepreneurs to prioritise innovations, mentorship and patient capital in growing their businesses in various sectors of the economy.
This was the submission of stakeholders at the just concluded Nigerian Economic Summit, #NES25 during a breakout session on Micro Small and Medium Enterprise, which had the topic: “Unleashing Nigeria’s Entrepreneurs”.
Onyeka Akuma, the Chief Executive Officer of Farm Crowdy, speaking at the panel session raised concern over the failure to give priority to mentorship, as he noted that most young entrepreneurs get into business out of necessity, not because of passion and belief in what they do.
He said that, “Entrepreneurs must think through a process of business before embarking on it. There is a place for skills, improvement, and mentorship. For any entrepreneur, it is access to patient funding that matters. Business support service is the key. We must have industrial clusters that address these concerns to make a meaningful impact and address the concerns of over 40 million MSME stakeholders in the country”.
Degun Agboade, the President of National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, told BusinessDay on the sidelines of the breakout session that many small- scale businesses and industrialists go into business without mastery in what they were embarking on.
He raised further concern that the ease of doing business in the country, despite the recent improvement in the World Bank ranking, has several challenges ranging from over-regulation, to multiple taxations, weak and unsupportive framework, poor access to markets, and the predominance of the informal sector.
He pointed out that several funding interventions from Development Finance Institutions, from the Bank of Industry, to the Central Banks remained inaccessible through several windows provided.
Earlier in his remarks, Kayode Pitan, the Managing director of the Bank of Industry said that the bank had been re-defining its lending options to ensure adequate support for micro and small-scale businesses in the country.
He noted further that the bank would keep supporting small-scale businesses in the country as the foremost development finance institution.
