The Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has assured stakeholders that it will work with Africa, and indeed Nigeria, to realise the projected growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

It noted that the increase in global demand for Nigerian products is a pointer to Nigeria’s potential to contribute significantly to global economic development.

The Head, UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodimu, gave the assurance at the closing ceremony of a four-day intensive training programme organised by UNIDO-ITPO Nigeria for three Federal Government agencies.

She said a strong team had been developed to strengthen the training potential of the agencies toward improving their mandate delivery.

“UNIDO ITPO Nigeria has just finished the training of experts which it will use in its training tasks ahead,” she said, adding that the team had been able to evolve the needed strategies to address challenges associated with entrepreneurial development in Nigeria.

“As a team, the collaborators have analysed the Nigerian business climate, and we have also imbibed the spirit of enterprise so that we will train entrepreneurs in the interest of ensuring that their businesses thrive despite challenges,” she noted.

“I have no doubt that we will achieve our set goal of making conglomerates of entrepreneurs by strengthening SMEs and placing them on the path of growth,” she added.

The beneficiary agencies are the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), National Office for Technology Acquisition & Promotion (NOTAP), and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC).

Olumodimu tasked the agencies to maximise the opportunities afforded them through the training, stating that they must leave no stone unturned in applying newly devised strategies to their operations as regards development of entrepreneurs.

The Director-General, NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed, thanked the UNIDO ITPO for the platform and assured stakeholders that NIRSAL would sustain the inter-agency collaboration established by ITPO Nigeria for the development of SMEs in the country.

“We are going to work with our partners in NIPC and NOTAP. We will identify realistic projects in the agricultural value chain that have to do with youth and we will apply the training we got here,” he added.

The Coordinator, ARCEIT Programme, UNIDO ITPO, Bahrain, Afif Barhoumi, said the end of the Train the Trainers (ToT) is the beginning of a shift from theory to practice.

Culled from: The Guardian