SMEDAN pushes for SME bank to boost inclusive growth

Umar Bature Masari, director-general of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), has said that the agency is  pushing for a small and medium enterprise  (SME) bank to ensure an all-inclusive growth in the economy.

According to Masari, the targeted inclusive economy is expected to capture more SMEs in the economy’s prosperity net.
At the launch of Business Innovation and Growth Platform (BIG) in Abuja, the SMEDAN boss said the bank is expected to ensure easier access to finance for the 37 million micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) operators in the country, stressing that there will be ease of doing business if more people are absorbed in economic prosperity net.

“We are alarmed by the challenge of access to finance confronting MSME operators  in the country, and we feel that we have to keep talking about it at any given opportunity,” Masari said.
“We would continue to advocate the need to make access to finance easier for the MSME, as we would keep making case for them, because that is only way we could entrench inclusive growth in the Nigerian economy,” he added.

Access to finance is a key element on the ease of doing business. Many of Nigeria’s peers such as South Africa and Thailand have single-digit lending rates with longer tenor.

Analysts believe that Nigeria’s current ranking of 169 (out 189) in the World Bank’s ease of doing business is a major setback to the country’s prosperity.

Speaking on the 220 billion MSME intervention fund by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),  Masari said: “That fund is still much available for MSMEs for access, and we encourage them to explore the advantage.”
“We are also on ground in every part of the state guiding MSMEs on having bankable plans, business support services,  which would enhance their capacity to access the funds and other benefits.”
“As an agency, we are providing business support services and need information and other forms of partnerships to upscale their activities and ensure they have market access to their products both locally and outside the country,” he further said.

On the newly launched Business Innovation and Growth (BIG) Platform, he said: “We would keep dialoguing with the coordinators of the programme to ensure that many MSMEs access the opportunities. We have instructed our coordinators in different states to ensure they keep providing business support services for MSMEs to tap into the opportunity for advancing inclusive growth.”
“If you look at the poverty level in the country, you will find out that it is a call for concern for everyone of us and that is why the leadership of the country has taken this initiative in collaboration with the World Bank to ensure more inclusive growth targeting 40 000 jobs and more down the value chain.”
He further said that it is an opportunity for people to own enterprises of their own and contribute to the economy.
The Bank of Industry (BoI) is making efforts to bridge the funding gap in the country, helping MSMEs in the productive sector of the economy grow and contribute their quota.

The bank has launched a couple of funds (such as CAP Fund, Fashion Fund, etc) targeted at ensuring that small business owners have access to single-digit rates.

Harrison Edeh