P&G partners BoI to empower SMEs through skilled academy

In order to ensure small and medium enterprises (SMEs) remain vibrant in Nigeria, through the enhancement of their technical know-how, Procter & Gamble, in partnership with the Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI) and the Bank of Industry (BoI), has initiated an SME Academy programme to select small and medium scale businesses in the country.

The training programme, tagged “SME Academy: Optimising People, Processes and Products,” held on October 3, 2019, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It was a follow-up to the agreement made with the Federal Government of Nigeria earlier in the year to leverage FMITI and ensure the growth and increase in capability for SMEs across the country.

In attendance were Adil Farhat, managing director, P&G Nigeria; Kagara Ahmed, regional manager (West), BoI; Pacqueens Irabor, state manager, BoI, Oyo State; Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and chief executive officers of SMEs from across all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The goal of the SME Academy is to find sustainable solutions to unlock the efficiency and performance of these enterprises through advisory and skills development, as these are key constraints to the growth of SMEs in Nigeria. Facilitators sensitised the participants on topical issues such as selling skills, building distribution operations, brand building, automation technologies for SMEs, competitiveness and standardisation, access to regional and international markets as well as logistics and international operations.

Among its other objectives for the initiative, P&G aims to provide practical guidance designed specifically for highly innovative SMEs with sustainable ambitions that are determined to turn strong, innovation towards total economic activity. The SME sector has become increasingly important to economies around the world, with a World Bank Study estimating their presence to be between 365-445 million in emerging markets. It is also the leading source of employment in Nigeria, amassing over 80% of the region’s workforce.

Adil Farhat, managing director, P&G Nigeria, said the training programme was his firm’s way of deepening SME knowledge with a view of having a vibrant SME sector in the country.

“The development of SMEs through capability building is a demonstration of P&G’s commitment to transforming Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.  When we decided to impact SMEs in Nigeria with support from the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, we were interested in developing an empowering model that would accommodate as many entities as possible. Our partnership with the BoI is strategic, as they have the capacity and expertise that would accelerate this vision into sustainable realities; which aligns with our goals for this programme,” Farhat, said.

Speaking on the objectives of the program, Kagara Ahmed, regional manager (West) of the BoI, added that the training program was meant to enhance the capacities of SMEs to optimise the opportunities in their sector.

“It is important for SMEs to focus on knowledge acquisition to optimize their people, physical resources, processes, and products/services in order to guarantee sustainable business profits. BOI is committed to the development of SMEs in Nigeria because we believe that a vibrant SME sector is critical to the transformation of the Nigerian industrial sector. The focus of today’s SME Academy is to effectively enhance the management systems of SMEs to ensure that their operational processes from initiation to completion are of quality and sustainable standards,” Ahmed said.