The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has confirmed plans to establish Small and Medium Enterprise Bank in 2021, saying the feasibility studies for the proposed bank are ongoing with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Dikko Umaru Radda, the director-general of the agency gave the confirmation during an interaction with journalists, Thursday, in Abuja. He said the bank would enhance financial access to micro and small scale businesses in the country, especially those who had been assisted through their business support services.
According to the director-general, a recent survey SMEDAN revealed there are over 41 million micro medium and small scale enterprises in the country, adding that the banking financial option would enable the agency scale up its business support services for the small scale businesses.
“Most SMEs are dragged down by lots of bottlenecks and space to kick off and swing into action. This bank we expect will solve the problems facing small and medium enterprise businesses in the country.
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Speaking further on the Federal Government’s directive for the border reopening, the director-general said the benefits have seen Nigerians in the rice value chain establish mills and expand their businesses, which has impacted on Nigeria’s rice sufficiency drive.
He further noted that the agency ahead of the upcoming African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) was preparing small and medium scale enterprises in the country through export facilitation programme on quality control as well as branding and packaging to enable them to maximise the opportunities in the over 1.2 billion African markets.
He informed also that SMEDAN during the lockdown developed three apps to match-make businesses with opportunities in various market hubs around the world.
He said the agency in 2020 also keyed into the government’s diversification in the agricultural sector by establishing agribusiness department to offer business support services to small and medium enterprises in the agro sector.
