The administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has said that it would soon begin training for thousands of entrepreneurs drawn across the Delta State.
The state government noted that small and medium enterprises have continued to spring up from various parts of Delta State and that the entrepreneurs needed to be trained for optimum benefit.
It said that interested indigenes are coming from various parts of the state, including Asaba, Warri, Ughelli, Sapele and from the rural areas.
A good number of them have been profiled by the state government.
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Right from the immediate past administration led by former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the entrepreneurs had received trainings to equip them for local and international markets.
The incumbent administration led by Sheriff Oborevwori is set to begin another round of training of the entrepreneurs recently profiled.
Shimite Love, special adviser to the Governor on Trade and Export, in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay, said: “We are about to start training of the entrepreneurs and equip them the more.”
She disclosed more plans by the Oborevwori administration in that regard, saying: “We are also going to buy some machines. You know that a lot of our people go to Onitsha for issues of branding, sealing machines and the rest. When we did our budget defence, we raised that (issue) to the budget and planning committee.
“They can become one of the areas a government agency can raise money for the people, for goods and services. What makes me interested in this is that crossing the Niger Bridge can be hectic for a lot of people; and when they get there, they still pay. So, instead of them to stress themselves, they pay us and we help them with branding, packaging equipment, etc.”
She further said that the suggestion was welcomed by the budget and planning committee because there is the need for rebranding.
“It is not every single item that we go to Aba in Abia State and Onitsha in Anambra markets to complete production. These logistics costs add to the final costs of the products.
“So, we want to bring the costs of the products down. We want to decrease the stress the entrepreneurs, cottage industries and factories encounter. We also want to increase the Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) of our state because the easier we make it for people to succeed, the more likely we have profitable people.
“So, before now, we were focusing on fashion and textile, arts and crafts, food and beverage. But in this dispensation, we are focusing on fashion and beauty, arts and crafts, food and beverage, entertainment and technology. Those are the four areas we are looking at under the more agenda,” she said.
Shimite Love, who was formerly called Shimite Bello and former executive assistant to the immediate past Governor Okowa on Export Initiative, said that the new focus was in tandem with the MORE agenda of Governor Oborevwori administration.
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“In the past, people came down to us for their profiling but this time, we went to other local governments. For the first time, from my own update, we hired a flying boat; we went to some creek communities to look at the quality of crayfish in the villages and we were able to find out why crayfish that comes to town is mixed with chaff rather than being fresh like the ones we saw in the creek communities,” she said.
According to her, “This is of interest to us as a state because we want them supply us quality products for our local and international markets and we pay them.”
She further said that her office was about to start training to ensure the products from the state compete favourably in both local and international markets.
“My present designation covers trade and export which is domestic trade and international trade. What we are doing is to make sure that people work and money gets into their hands.
“It is to make sure that buying and selling from any level (micro to macro) is profitable for people both Deltans and non-Deltans living in the state,” she said.
