Seasoned professionals to address operators at BusinessDay SME forum

This year’s BusinessDay SME forum holding March 27, 2014, will have seasoned professionals in attendance to address operators of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

In attendance will be Bature Umar Masari, director-general, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and Joachim Adebayo Adenusi, CEO, Conrad Clark Nigeria, the keynote speaker. Other speakers include Ajayi Olufunlayo Apinke, director, business development, Oracle Middle East and Africa, Oguche Aguda, special adviser to the minister of trade and investment on Access to Finance

This year’s BusinessDay’s Annual SME forum holding in Lagos will centre on identifying, understanding and managing risks in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Still in line with its mandate of promoting enterprise development in Nigeria, BusinessDay, in partnership with Growth and Employment in States (GEMS4), will also be holding the third Annual Retail Conference on the theme: Wholesale and Retail Market Modernisations: Challenges and Opportunities’ on March 28, this year, in Lagos.

The SME Forum will provide insight and clarity on risk challenges that SMEs in Nigeria face. This year’s edition will also examine matters related to funding and getting access to funding in Nigeria as an SME and how Nigerian SMEs can tap into the funding schemes currently available through the banks, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other funding windows to grow their businesses.

The target audience include SMEs in all sectors of the Nigerian economy – manufacturing, services, logistics, agriculture, ICT, construction, engineering, fabrication, food processing and storage. Organisations such as Bank of Industry (BoI), financial institutions including the apex bank – CBN, commercial banks, microfinance banks, insurance companies and development and donor agencies, SME networks, women entrepreneurs’ networks and associations, cooperative societies, SME consultancies, government agencies such as SMEDAN, and so on.

Facilitators are seasoned entrepreneurs/professionals from the private sector and government agencies who have distinguished themselves in supporting this sector through their wealth of experience, skills and knowledge. Speakers also include experts in risk management and financial advisory services. Participation fee at this landmark forum holding at Standard Alliance Insurance, Event Hall, Plot 1, Block 94 Providence Street, Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, is N10,000.00 per delegate. Also available for interested businesses and organisations are adverts in the brochure and sponsorships of the event with enormous benefits.

Registration starts by 9am prompt. However, participants can send name, organisation, designation, email address and phone number for pre-registration after effecting payment into BusinessDay’s bank account.