As part of its programmes for the World MSMEs Day 2023, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has partnered Casava Insurance, a risk underwriting company with special focus on agribusiness, to facilitate voluntary registration and certification of MSMEs under SMEDAN and provide valuable support services for registered MSMEs in the country.
Specifically, the agency, in collaboration with the insurance company, has created the ‘Business Gro’ initiative under its MSME Mass Registration Program (MMRP) to provide SMEDAN-registered businesses with access to exceptional value-added services and support from the Federal Government.
According to the partners, some of the benefits of the ‘Business Gro’ initiative include the issuance of SMEDAN certificate with embedded SMEDAN Unique Identification Number (SUIN) confirming their business status; access to grants, loans, and other financial services through SMEDAN or in partnership with other development agencies; and access to capacity building, training, and other business learning opportunities for the business owner and employees.
Others are business continuity cover against selected unforeseen circumstances impacting business operations; and engendering and fast-tracking market linkages, enterprise cooperation, and enhanced regulatory oversight as congruent with the vision of the agency which is to establish a structured and efficient MSME sub-sector that will encourage and enhance sustainable economic development.
In line with the theme of this year’s World MSME Day celebration “Building a Stronger Future Together”, the SMEDAN’s MMRP seeks to address the challenges faced by MSMEs in Nigeria through the registration and provision of developmental benefits to informal and semi-formal MSMEs.
The agency advised owners of MSMEs to visit https://smedanregister.ng/ to register their business with SMEDAN for free and gain subsidized access to various forms of support services.
Speaking on the initiative, SMEDAN Director-General, Mr Olawale Fasanya, pointed out that “SMEs remained the backbone of every nation’s economy but had been facing so many challenges that are undermining their productivity, especially due to their unstructured nature.
He explained that SMEDAN intended to position MSMEs for stronger and better performance as the agency has provided benefits to combat major setbacks faced by MSMEs, which include access to funds/credit facilities, insurance, training, etc, for a small fee”
Fasanya promised: “SMEDAN is fully committed to this initiative in the quest to ensure SMEs can fulfill their potential with proper guidance and exposure, avoid a business collapse that could drag business owners and employees deeper into poverty.”
“Our obligation to these MSMEs is to help them grow their business and ensure they can access every necessary information and linkages to becoming a generational business”, he added.
Available official statistics as of year 2022 indicates that there are over 39.6 million MSMEs contributing up to 48% of Nigeria’s GDP; and over 59 million jobs nationwide.
As the SMEDAN boss had noted, many of the MSMEs still faced the challenges of lack of access to capital, capacity building, access to markets, equipment, innovations, information, linkages, etc, which are crucial to sustain their grow, and improve their profitability.
