Total E&P Nigeria mentors SMEs on expanding business opportunities
Total E&P Nigeria (TEPNG) has taken its corporate social Responsibility( CSR)further by practically mentoring scores of micro, small and medium-scale businesses (MSMEs) on how to expand their business operations, using modern, technologically driven methods and strategies.
The beneficiaries, most of whom hail from Egi land, Total E&P’s major host community, had earlier been given loans to begin different types of businesses, ranging from fish farming, tissue paper conversion, poultry, trading, furniture and cabinet making, fashion and design, among others.
This time, they were brought together in Port Harcourt, and given mentoring on how to manage their cash-flow, gain access to new markets, develop networking and trainings on business management.
According to Philippe Desriac, the Business & Enterprise Development Manager of Total E&P Nigeria, the oil company, two years ago, commenced an enterprise development initiative targeted at job creation in Egi land by making tens of them entrepreneurs.
“At Total, we have worked hard over these past two years to establish a strong valuable loan program for the Egi land. Our mandate has always been the promotion of economic development of the Egi community, and obviously create valuable dialogue with Egi people. From the very beginning our aim was to tear down local and global barriers and build bridges between Egi men and women, and us,” he stated.
To kick-start the programme, the French oil firm signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fortis Microfinance Bank, to develop a loan initiative for the Egi people, and trained in business ventures; while the microfinance bank monitored their progress.
Desriac said Total was “committed to doing everything possible to help the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Egi, and play a role in creating a connected people and a socially inclusive business society.”
He said, “It is our commitment and our determination that bring Egi entrepreneurs to the forefront, and in touch with global leaders in business, economy, technology and politics. Globalization need not benefit only advanced nations. Indeed, in helping the development of your enterprises, it brings the promise, but not the guarantee of a better future.”
Last the SMEs loan beneficiaries were brought together in Port Harcourt, for a mentoring seminar to train them on creating additional business streams, and new markets through new contacts. Resource persons drawn from the Fortis Microfinance Bank and its new agency banking business, which the SMEs can leverage on. The Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHCCIMA) thought the participants on advantages of registering with organized bodies, while the Institute of Export Operations and Management (IEOM) showed new markets existing in export business, as well as agribusiness.
For Desriac, the TEPNG business development manager, “We want to help you to develop economy in Egi land, and not in making barriers, but in building bridges with people, cultures and organizations. In a single hour today, more people and goods move from city to city, country to country, continent to continent than moved in the entire 18th or 19th centuries. We are living a new reality and are pleased that, Egi today looks forward to deal with the long term challenges affecting not just Egi land, but the entire Nigeria.”
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