With a potential to unlock over a hundred million dollars every year from the non-oil sector according to experts, the Federal Government through the Bank of Industry, BOI, has set aside a N10 million kick-off fund to support startups/SMEs in the country.

This was disclosed at the maiden edition of the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit, YES, Nigeria with the theme: Nigeria Beyond Oil: Advancing SMMEs Development Through Entrepreneurship.

Speaking at the event, the Ag. Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Waheed Olagunju, said that the driving force of business and growth for every developing economy are the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises which is why the government is paying attention to the SMMEs.

The youths he added, constitute a large chunk of the nation’s population who are very energetic and are imbued with entrepreneurship spirit, which is why according to him, if the nation must make any progress it must incorporate the youth demographics in all its planning, strategies and programmes.

“The Bank of Industry has realized this fact that we need to address the unemployment challenge in the country and that is why we’ve launched two programmes; The Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund, GEF, launched last year and targeted at Youth Corp members where we give out N2 million to successful applicants who we give maximum training to take up any business of their choice; we’re currently disbursing funds to them. We also launched late last year, the Youth Entrepreneurship Support Fund, YESF, which has a limit of N10 million for any entrepreneur who wants to establish any business in line with our key defined sectors in line with the Nigerian Industrial Development Plan. The first segment of the programmes ran between April and May 2016, and we have begun the second segment”, he said.

Olagunju however dispelled fears that it was difficult to get funding from the BOI, saying that once the right documents are produced accompanied by a well thought out business plan such business will be funded. “Our payment plan has been shortened to about six weeks which now makes supporting SMEs faster”.

Export the way to go

A lot has been said about Nigeria focusing on export to increase the FX revenue. This increase according experts can only be achieved if the right environment is created to aid local manufacturers and local content. What is Nigeria’s export policy and what is the government doing to this end?

For the CEO, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Mr. Segun Awolowo, the NEPC, is working to make the world a market place for Nigeria’s non-oil products. Speaking for Awolowo, Mrs. Francisca Odenga added that the Council has lined up programme to aid in the export of non-oil commodities.

“One of such programmes is the Zero to Export Project and the first batch is already exporting. We teach you the business and translate your idea into a vision. We train would be exporters on the whole process export trade.”

Export he added has become crucial at a time like this in the nation’s economy where FX revenue has dwindled and which is why the NEPC is encouraging exports though its programme.

For other panelists, there was a consensus that youths who want to become entrepreneurs should not be over ambitious. Advising beginning from somewhere with what they have will attract the necessary funding. They also agreed that funding is secondary in the scheme of things to becoming an entrepreneur where information is king; while they enjoined the media and stakeholders to make necessary information to supporting SMEs available.

The convener of the summit, Ndiana Matthew, however said that the summit was born out of the pain of lack of mentorship for budding entrepreneurs without connections or formal business school education, a level playing field on market entry, obstacles to finance and a paucity of knowledge or its accessibility by the average Nigerian youth. The summit he added is to bridge the gap in capacity, to empower youths and to change the scheme of things.

Author: Theresa Igata