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Bayelsa State government has concluded arrangements to host the 2018 Africa SMEs Roundtable with the theme: The Position of Africa SMEs within the Global Economy: Unlocking Market Opportunities.
BusinessDay gathers that already 15 African countries have registered for the March 1 to 3 event, while 20 African development institutions, 10 global SME funding support institutions and many others have also indicated readiness to attend.
The event is expected to provide a platform for business-to-business and government-to-business opportunities, promote bilateral trade and boost inter African trade as part of an African sister cities business fair/exposition.
Director-general of Bayelsa Microfinance and Enterprise Development Agency (BYMEDA), Ebiekure Eradiri, described the roundtable as “apt in view of the global economic realities of recession and crude oil negative downward slide.”
Eradiri called on African trade and finance ministers, government agencies, entrepreneurs, banks and the African Union among others to participate, as the roundtable will afford opportunities to examine “policies, strategies, best practices, solutions and programmes to upgrade African SMEs and launch them into new growth trajectories.”
He said the programme would spotlight evolution of Africa SMEs marketplace, increase foreign direct investment and promote accelerated development of SMEs in the continent.
According to Eradiri, the roundtable would also take stock of the implementation of the Consolidated Plan of Action, which would take into account emerging areas and contributions of Africa to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
On the expected impact of the programme, Eradiri explained that the recommendations are expected to fit into the implementation plan path for the new umbrella group for SMEs advocacy, All Africa Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
The three-day programme would feature exhibitions in two major sectors and encourage exchange of business information, brands promotion and build prospect data and generate sales leads among others.
Eradiri said expected results include synthesis of best practices, benchmarking tool for entrepreneurs, guidelines for mainstreaming SMEs into national development, incubation of newly identified entrepreneurs and procurement of loans and monitoring.
