SMEs to access strategic financing

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in commercial and industrial sector are set to reap from funding opportunities available through microfinance banks in the country.

Paulin Nsah, CEO, FBN Microfinance Limited, observed that microfinance bank (MFB) was an increasingly important and powerful tool for social services, government, and business communities.

Nsah, while speaking at a business meeting organised by Fs Club for members in Lagos, said the public, particularly the SMEs of this generation, was demanding greater transparency from the banking sectors, especially in the aspect of loans and financial sustainability, saying MFB played an important role in the development of Nigeria’s industrial sector, with emphasis on the current dispensation.

According to the CEO, “While explaining the modalities in writing a good business plan in getting loans, the speaker revealed that one of the challenges hindering the secure of a financial loan is the inability to draw up a good and convincing business plan.”

She therefore enjoined members of the club to make their business plan more convincing and air tight.

Gbolagade Adebisi, president, Fs Club, explaining the rationale behind the event, said “the business luncheon seeks to advance discussions on business, economic, political and social issues affecting members of the club and the contemporary Nigerian society, and that is why members of the club need to know more on how to change in their economic fortunes.

The FS Club of Nigeria is a professional business and social club, and it aims to provide members platforms to socialise and network while promoting thought leadership on a number of topical issues affecting the society.

Review foreign policy to encourage Diaspora participation, DTAC advocates

Directorate of Technical Cooperation for Africa (DTCA) has called for a review of the country’s foreign policy to encourage Nigerians in the Diaspora to participate in national development.

Shuabu Suleiman, DTAC director-general, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria at a retreat to assess Nigeria’s foreign policy in Saminaka, Kaduna State.

Suleiman said the review would facilitate a well-coordinated system in harnessing the potential of citizens in the Diaspora.

According to him, development is about human beings and human beings across borders. So, these are some of the issues we are interested in, he said, saying “we also have an interface with the Diaspora community and my position has always been that and I think it is a general consensus.

“There is a need for a more efficient, proactive and dynamic cooperation and coordination of issues that have to do with the Diaspora. One of the issues that came up strongly during the debate session in this retreat is the issue of Diaspora.

It is not just enough to look at the Diaspora internally, but begin right from the host country. How they can be harnessed, mobilised and deployed for development purposes in Africa.”

He also said that the directorate had programmes lined up in collaboration with several embassies to mobilise and engage Nigerian citizens globally.

“We want to create a platform where we can have some interface with the Diaspora and it is going to be a departure from what we have had in the past.

“We are working with a number of embassies like the Israeli Embassy, the Indian, Rwandan High Commissions and quite a number of them.

“We have to learn not reinvent the wheel because these are countries that have had great successes in mobilising their Diaspora,” he said.

Also, Lawrence Obisakin, Nigerian ambassador to the Republic of Benin, said the foreign policy assessment was in line with the agenda of the present administration.

According to him, the assessment will create a more inclusive policy that will enhance the participation of citizens in the Diaspora in the delivery of the policy.

“If the ministry realises that there is a need for the review then a healing process has started and we want to be active and alive to the policy of our government.

“The Nigerians in the Diaspora will have many roles to play because when there is progress in the implementation of the foreign policy, it is going to affect all Nigerians. The foreign policy of a nation is directly connected to its domestic policy and we have a lot to take home.

“Now for Nigerians in Benin, we are going to react positively and Nigerians will be affected essentially and existentially,” he said.

In addition, Iliya Fachano, Charge d’Affaires, Nigerian Embassy in Sao Tome and Principe, said the assessment would enhance Nigeria’s relations with the international community.

Fachano also noted that it was an opportunity to assess Nigeria’s relations with Sao Tome and Principe in the maritime sector, saying “our foreign policy is such that it starts from the immediate neighbours and expand to larger African countries.

“In terms of security and influence, we must be strong in our best before we move on to other African countries to carry them along in multilateral issues.

“The review is to see what we have done right in our relations with Sao Tome and Principe and what we have not done right and what recommendations we want to put forward to improve relations between both countries.”

He added that both countries sought to have enhanced cooperation on the bilateral and multilateral levels.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the weekend, organised a retreat to identify the strengths, achievements, gaps and weakness in the conduct of Nigeria’s foreign policy over the years.

The meeting came up with recommendations to assess areas to be taken into consideration by the Federal Government in the review of the country’s foreign policy.