BoI collaborates with FIIRO to train entrepreneurs in fabrication

In order to enhance the capacity of fabricators, the Bank of Industry (BoI) is collaborating with the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) in training entrepreneurs in this sector to align them with the latest and best available machinery in the industry.

“It is our belief that there is need for effective machinery to produce the right kind of quality products,” said an official of BoI, who represented Rasheed Olaoluwa, CEO, BoI, at the just concluded FIIRO Investment and Technology Week held in Lagos.

It is important to give all players in the micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) their rightful place so that they can pull the Nigerian economy on the path of prosperity, Gloria Elemo, CEO, FIIRO, said.

According to Elemo, MSMEs are the engine of industrial growth and sustenance of the economy, adding that over 65 percent of SMEs in the South-West Nigeria have their traces to FIIRO. Also, over 500,000 entrepreneurs have benefitted from the research institute, she said, recommending that the curriculum be reviewed to ensure that entrepreneurship is given an ample place in higher institutions. She also recommended that all products produced in the country should no longer be imported.

Entrepreneurs also seized the medium to call for the leverage of more funds to SMEs in order to make them function effectively and make meaningful contribution to the economy.

Tunde Eso, managing director, Assorted 234, said banks need to make more funds available, lamenting that MSMEs start businesses with their own capital without any support from either banks or government. Eso said over 80 percent of companies registering at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) were SMEs that eventually struggle to find their foothold.

Eke Ubiji, executive secretary, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), called for a synergy between business development service providers and research institutes at FIIRO, adding there were available funds for investment like the Nigeria Enterprise Fund from the United States. Ubiji said some logistics were being worked out to ensure the Dutch SME Fund was made available to MSMEs through the Federal Government.

Dele Oyekun, deputy director at FIIRO, said the research institute had provided 250 techno-investment opportunities for MSMEs, out of which 50 were readily available.

ODINAKA ANUDU