The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has charged owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and potential investors in the subsector to ensure thorough financial and operations are put in place in order to ensure that their businesses thrive.
The SMEDAN’s Administrative Officer in Kwara State, Mrs. Adava Ometre, who gave the advice in her remarks at a seminar organized by the Kwara State Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as part of its 2024 Annual Press Week, stressed the importance of resilience for existing MSMEs amid the current economic challenges.
Ometre highlighted the significant contributions of MSMEs to the Nigerian economy over the years, noting that based on the latest official data, the small enterprises account for 46.31% of the nation’s GDP and over 6% of its exports.
According to her, these figures are clear indicators that MSMEs are thriving, despite the tough economic environment in the country.
On her advice to MSME owners, the SMEDAN official said: “MSMEs owners in Nigeria should remain resilient. They should not give up or close down because of the current economic difficulties—they will overcome them.
“If you want to succeed in any business today, you must plan ahead. Some businesses that have existed for five years or more have closed down because they were not well planned”, Ometre advised.
In addition, she encouraged existing business owners, particularly the MSMEs owners, to take advantage of the various Federal Government’s interventions to grow their businesses, stressing the importance of proper packaging and branding of their products and services.
