NGBA announces workshops on growth opportunities for SMEs

Nigerian-German Business Association (NGBA) has announced plans to hold a series of capacity building workshops for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The workshops, which are designed to cover core business areas that pose a challenge to existing SMEs and start-ups, will enable participants to update and enhance their legal, financial, management and marketing skills.

The association disclosed in a statement that the workshop series tagged ‘Business Leadership and Strategy Training (BLAST) – Business Growth Opportunity and Access to Finance for SMEs,’ will hold every week from Thursday, August 13 to Thursday, September 3, 2015 at the NGBA secretariat, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The SME workshops are the first in a series of quarterly workshops to be organised by the NGBA to improve the capacity level of both micro and macro businesses operating in the Nigerian economy and will kick off with the legal module on August 13. Other modules in the SME workshop series include finance, management and marketing.

Resource persons for the workshop series include SMEs experts from the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) as well as industry heavyweights who will be on hand to give practical mentorship advice to participants. Participants would be exposed to strategies on how to re-position their business operations, while getting relevant market information.

Jennifer Anoyika, director-general, NGBA, said: “SMEs have been acknowledged globally as engines of economic growth and major contributors within any economy in terms of employment generation, wealth creation, poverty alleviation and food security, as well as other indices by which growth and development are measured.”

“The aim of this workshop,” she said, “is to effectively equip SMEs with requisite skills that will, in the short and long term, enhance the growth of their businesses and also improve their overall economic status. We welcome SMEs- both startups and existing organisations, to register and attend as they stand to benefit from networking and forging strong partnerships while gleaning relevant information that will help them succeed in their various businesses.”