Sunkanmi Ola is the founder and chief operating officer of Syracuse Africa, a digital creative ad agency in Nigeria. Syracuse Africa is one of BusinessDay’s 100 fastest-growing SMEs in 2019. Sunkanmi featured as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2018. In this interview, he assesses the Nigerian business environment and speaks on challenges in his industry.
Can you give us a brief introduction of your business?
We handle marketing strategy, management and execution for brands across digital, PR, product development and branding. Syracuse Africa was established in 2012 and has evolved gradually into an innovation powerhouse in this field, establishing some of the biggest & leading brands in Nigeria and across the African market, forging the path of entry for global brands into the West African market and driving the brand growth of local innovative businesses.
How is the Nigerian business environment impacting your business?
The same challenges have always been with us. Infrastructure is poor or lacking in many cases. There is insufficient access to SME finance, and weak or faulty policies to support and protect small and medium sized businesses. The list goes on. These choke the lifeblood of young businesses, but on the other hand, it presents a challenge that drives the need to innovate in order to survive. As a company, we have had to thrive and grow in spite of these challenges, but this hasn’t come without its sacrifices.
What are the most critical problems your industry faces?
Infrastructure, or the lack of it, stands out sorely. This affects some industries more than others, but it does cut across all sectors, including the service industry which Syracuse Africa plays in. Epileptic power supply and high cost of good internet service, among others, drive up the cost of conducting business and SMEs suffer the most from it. Other problems such as lack of access to growth finance are just as bad too, because these things are critical to sustaining a healthy and encouraging business environment.
Can there be any end to the challenge of financing for SMEs?
So far, there have been positive steps to addressing this problem in particular, both from the sides of government policies pushing commercial banks to increase and meet their quotas for SME financing, and the private companies moving into the credit space to bridge the gap. These markers show that a future with sufficient SME financing is possible. There is, however, a long way to go.
Do you think the existing policies and regulations are enough to ensure the proper functioning of SMEs in Nigeria?
At the moment, no. Not even close. Not just in the service industry but across the SME sector overall. A lot more initiative is needed in this regard, especially from the part of policy makers and enforcers.
What policies and regulations do you propose should be implemented/introduced?
Government should intensify intervention programmes that will aid growth of MSMEs by making affordable financing options available. Additionally, more attention and support should be given to knowledge acquisition through access to requisite trainings and apprenticeship systems based on global standards.
