New Telegraph 
Some stakeholders have emphasised the need for improved funding, capacity building, and a shift in mindset of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
The stakeholders spoke as panelist at the ongoing 2024 National MSME Conference organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) on Friday in Abuja. The conference was themed: “Grow Nigerian: Sustaining a Digital and Innovation Driven Economy”.
The stakeholders, while speaking on their challenges, urged MSMEs to restrategise to boost exports and enable them to contribute more to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Managing Director of Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Abba Bello, said that the problem for funding for small businesses was risk, as funding followed where risk was mitigated.
Bello said that to scale up, MSMEs needed to reorganise themselves, ensure that they are well structured and try to build capacity for their businesses. “With that, we start reducing the risk factor. But beyond the SMEs, there are also risks that are associated with export on its own.
“But beyond that, We have identified that there are production, capacity and standardisation challenges associated with exports. “And working together with other agencies and governments, NEXIM has tried to see how we can mitigate those challenges to enable MSMEs to operate smoothly across the globe, ” he said.
The Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nonye Ayeni, restated the importance for MSMEs to engage in capacity building and value addition in product exports.
“We need to build capacity, understand the rudiments of the game, ensure standards, think value addition, build financial muscle, derisk our business and work with institutions that will help us access funding.
“We need to work in clusters, pull resources to strengthen your capabilities, get connected to agencies that can groom you on the requirements for exports.” ” The market is there but consistency is what is required.
So you must scale up production to be able to scale through,” Ayeni said. Also speaking, the ComptrollerGeneral, Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, reiterated the crucial role the MSME sector played in national development while urging all agencies and governments to support it.
