Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria employ well over 61 million people. This was disclosed by the Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. OlawaleFasanya at an interactive session in Lagos with members of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and Business Editors last Tuesday. This means that the SMEs provide employment for over 30 per cent of the Nigerian population.

Quoting National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Mr. Fasanya said the total number of SMEs in Nigeria is over 39 million, and their contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about 49 per cent.

Strategic as they are, Mr. Fasanya said that SMEs are challenged by a number of factors, including lack of access to finance, market, equipment, information, technical and entrepreneurial skills and workspace. He however said that SMEDAN is working assiduously to tackle these challenges faced by SMEs to enable them provide more job opportunities for many more Nigerians and also contribute more to the county’ GDP.

To address the challenge of access to finance, Mr.Fasanya said SMEDAN is putting finishing touches to its plan to establish SMEDAN Microfinance Bank. He said when the bank becomes operational, it will not provide the SMEs with more access to finance, it will be able to do so at single-interest rate.

Mr. Fasanya said SMEDAN is also tackling the workspace challenge faced by SMEs. In this regard, he said that the agency is re-purposing 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDC) to provide functional workspace and business incubation to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) either on a temporary or permanent basis.

In the agency’s effort to ensure inclusiveness in its programmes, Mr. Fasanya said it has initiated a special capacity building programme for people with special abilities. This he said is with a view to providing them with an opportunity for economic self-reliance and reduction of stigmatization.