• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Silverbird Small Business Events Circuit: A game changer for small businesses

Silverbird Small Business Events Circuit

By all accounts, this is probably the best time in recent history to be a small business owner in
Nigeria. A growing willingness of private equity providers to invest in small businesses coupled with several sovereign intervention programmes through government owned agencies such as the Bank of Industry, and more recently single digit interest rate long tenored loans.

Some calculations reckon that the recent directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Nigerian banks to maintain a minimum Loanto-Deposit Ratio (LDR) of 60% could release anywhere in excess of one trillion naira for lending to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

The intent is clear and message is direct, grow small business and consumer lending, now!!! The reason is simple, small businesses are not only drivers of economic growth, but also have the potential to become the highest employers of labour when aggregated.

However, while the availability of money for small business owners is being resolved, the greater challenge lies in their inability to access these funds. Money is not free, it has a cost and there are conditions to accessing it. The individuals and firms need to be ready and their ideas bankable.

On present evidence, not many small businesses in their present shape or form possess the capacity to overcome the obstacles to accessing these funds. A lot of effort is still required in equipping small businesses with the tools and skills they need to access these funds. Skills that include finance, management and marketing.

This is where the approach of Silverbird Entertainment Limited and its partners, BusinessDay Newspaper and Events tracer in launching the Silverbird Small Business Events Circuit qualifies as a game changer for small businesses While there is no shortage of business events to attend, this particular one is different.

The Circuit is a combination of calendared sector specific small business events and seminars stretched out over an almost year long period.

It is designed to promote the stability and growth of SMEs in Nigeria using a six-pillar strategy they have coined as CHITTA (representing Capital, Health, Insurance, Technology, Training and
Awareness).

CHITTA captures the most urgent challenges that small businesses face and the Circuit aims to provide a platform for over 150,000 visitors and 200 exhibitors from 9 industries to interact over 8 months, in the hope of providing solutions to CHITTA.

The goal here is to promote greater interaction among stakeholders to find solutions, which can then be used to improve everyone’s revenue. This is why the Circuit has the theme Interact, Sell More.