Develop strong foundation, leverage technology, TPLDA urges SMEs

Owners of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) have been advised to leverage technology while creating a strong foundation for growth.

The advice was given at the maiden edition of the Phoenix Learning and Developmental Academy (TPLDA) Business Master Class, where Olanrewaju Babatunde Aduloju, lead consultant and chief executive officer, told business owners and youths to set their priorities right and make use of the social media to develop themselves and their business.

Also present as a speaker was Wonu Okoye, chief executive officer of Big Startup, a business coaching platform, who stated that Nigerian youths were enterprising, innovative and hardworking.

Okoye stressed that there was a need to grant everyone an opportunity to be successful, advising all unemployed youths to get busy and not stay idle. She urged them to read widely, make research about various things and develop people network.

She further encouraged them to maximise and take advantage of all media platforms, most especially the social media.

She stressed the need to seek internship at organisations and learn.

Using herself as an example, she said that she was initially scared of failing but overtime learnt from each failure, which eventually paid off.

On the ease of doing business in Nigeria, Aduloju stated that Nigerians were hardworking but limited by various factors, majorly finance. He cited an example with the difficulty encountered in obtaining loans from banks to set up a business and the high rate of interest attached.

Making reference to the on-going promo of business registration with the sum of N5, 000 in place of the regular N10, 000 for a period of 90 days due to expire on the 31st of December 2018, he commended the government but said that more should be done to improve and ease the business environment, especially for SMEs.

In order to improve the ability of trained experts in various sectors of the country’s economy, he further advised the federal government to develop the available technical schools and make necessary contributions towards the advancement of the educational sector in order to produce more experts and a competent workforce for the country.

The TPLDA Business Master class is a one-day interactive forum aimed at helping start-ups and business owners overcome challenges facing their business.

The TPLDA was established in 2010 and started full operations in 2015.

Gbemi Faminu