Bayelsa State Microfinance and Enterprise Development Agency (BYMEDA) has emerged winner of the 2017 World SME Excellence Award at the 21st International Conference on SMEs in New Delhi, India.
The event, which held at the Habitat Centre in Delhi, was jointly organised by the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) and Grant Thorton International.
BYMEDA won in the Organisation Category as Champion in Promotion, Support and Development of the micro, small and medium enterprises ecosystem as a result of efforts at spearheading and attracting over N4 billion (equivalent to over $10 million to entrepreneurs in the sub-sector as well as generation of over 7000 direct and indirect jobs.
An elated and ecstatic BYMEDA director-general, Ebiekure Jasper Eradiri received from Mauritius Minister of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives, Soomilduth Bholah, among other distinguished personalities at the awards ceremony.
Eradiri, in his remarks, dedicated the award to God Almighty but gave the credits to Governor Henry Seriake Dickson who had given humongous support to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sub-sector since the past five years.
He explained that Governor Dickson’s support was in line with his promise to give massive and robust support to the sub-sector to stimulate and re-engineer the economic growth of the state.
Eradiri assured that the global recognition would greatly spur the agency in its drive to create possibilities, provisions and prosperity for entrepreneurs and in 2018 kick start a signature project; ‘The Project 10 SME Challenge’ aimed at creating 30,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2020.
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According to Eradiri, the project would be formally launched with development partners to achieve the objective that would also assist in the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1, 8 and 9.
Earlier in October 2017, Eradiri was nominated as Hive African Global Leader from amongst 22 African countries for his work in taking the MSME sub-sector to new heights in Bayelsa State.
Meanwhile, Yenagoa has been approved to host the 2018 Africa SME Roundtable Event which is a gathering of SME policy/decision-makers, entrepreneurs, academia, angel investors, venture capitalists, finance institutions, international donor agencies, Development Finance Institutions and African leaders amongst others from March 1 to 3.
This would be the second time Yenagoa would host an SME conference where decisions are taken would have a global impact, the first being the 20th International Conference on SMEs of the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises co-hosted in 2014.
One of the highlights of the forthcoming roundtable would be the formal launch of an African SME umbrella body to spearhead advocacy and promote the interests of African SMEs within the African Union and the United Nations respectively.
