Entrepreneurs have urged the federal and state governments to support micro, small and medium businesses by creating the right environment for them to scale.
Speaking at the launch of Emeka Osuji’s two books centred on entrepreneurship and microfinance entitled ‘Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development’ and ‘Leading Essays on Microfinance’.
Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group, chairman of the event, who was represented by Emeka Onwuka, partner and head of private clients at Andersen Tax Nigeria, said micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) constitute an important part of economic growth and development, but the entrepreneurship ecosystem is bedevilled by numerous challenges including funding.
“The SMEs are important catalysts of growth. In Nigeria today, we have about 37 million SMEs and most of them are micro businesses and they are not able to easily access funds,” he said.
“The level of ‘ostracisation’ in access to finance in the country is quite high and over the years, despite efforts in financial inclusion and banking penetration, it has not changed significantly. As at 2009, only 100 companies were borrowing over 40 percent of all the bank loans in the country and this has not changed significantly over the years,” he stated.
He said in order to reduce the problem of fund inaccessibility, the Central Bank of Nigeria proffered various initiatives to expand the reach of financial services to the under-banked and also enhance access to capital, stressing that access to capital is significant in alleviating poverty and increasing economic growth.
Reviewing the book, Victor Chukwuma, founding director, Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies, Olabisi Onobanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, said the book strategically explains the importance of SMEs, which is like a guide on how to prosper for entrepreneurs and a landmark contribution to the body of knowledge for the general public.
Speaking on the entrepreneurship ecosystem and economic growth in Nigeria, he said balanced development is a prerequisite for sustainable growth, and SMEs contribute their quota to economic development.
“In emerging economies, SMEs contribute 45 percent to employment and 33 percent of GDP. When the combination of informal businesses is taken into account, SMEs contribute more than half of employment and GDP irrespective of income levels,” he said.
Speaking on challenges of entrepreneurs, he said the Nigerian entrepreneurship ecosystem is visibly segregated into four segments of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th industrial revolutions, which are agriculture, industry, information and technology, adding that most entrepreneurs are yet to advance into the technological revolution.
He said, “The government of underdeveloped countries need to make large investments in a number of sectors that will enlarge market size, increase productivity and provide an incentive for the private sector to invest.
“The Nigerian government needs policy makers that look at the challenges of entrepreneurs and come up with practical solutions not just on paper but in real life action,” he further said.
Emeka Osuji, head of economics department at the Pan-Atlantic University and author of the books, said SMEs are necessary in achieving economic growth and prosperity, adding that they need help in order to achieve sustainable and significant contributions to economic growth.
Speaking on the book, he said, “What we are doing is promoting small businesses and seeing how we can contribute to the intellectual aspect by helping the people in small business to understand the challenges they face. Regarding microfinance, it is a move to contribute an intellectual quota to poverty reduction in the country. The book is about financial inclusion and that is what Nigeria is doing today.”
He urged the government to help SMEs by empowering them intellectually and financially and also by providing necessary infrastructure for them to increase their level of productivity.
Gbemi Faminu
