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‘With over 40m MSMEs, Nigeria ought not be poor’

By Abdulganiyu Alabi, Kaduna
22 April 2019   |   4:12 am
Institute of Master Industrial Management Entrepreneurship (IMIME) has said that with over 40 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Nigeria should not be poor.It, however, identified lack of pre-requisite skills as the bane of entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, which it blamed for the poverty in the country.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

Institute of Master Industrial Management Entrepreneurship (IMIME) has said that with over 40 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Nigeria should not be poor.It, however, identified lack of pre-requisite skills as the bane of entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, which it blamed for the poverty in the country.

The president, Dr. Fatai Salahudeen, stated this yesterday in Kaduna during the investiture of the president of Audu Bida Development Company, Dr. Umaru Bida, as council member and chairman of IMIME for North Central, North East and North West geo-political zones.“With 40 million owners of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria should not have been immersed in poverty of employment if those identified were equipped with the right skills in what they do.”

According to him, the institute, which is registered with the Federal Ministry of Education, came up to assist students and professionals to advance their careers in entrepreneurship and to nurture entrepreneurs for business organisations.“What that means is that we want to develop capacity of people with impactful skills for the market place, so that anyone that is self-employed has the capacity to grow his business in line with the need of the society.

“We know that government, private organisations and the society spend a lot of resources to develop people with one vocational skill or another. In all these efforts, there is no consolidated skill development for the persons behind these small-scale enterprises.

“In Nigeria today, there are 40 million small and medium entrepreneurs, according to National Bureau of Statistics. If these people have pre-requisite skills to manage their businesses, that means they have already gained employment.“It is even better if they add one or two persons to themselves and then, we will be talking about 80 to 120 million self-employed, which is good for our population.“In the long run, the issue of unemployment would be addressed and the tax net of the government will increase. “We know that up north here, we have so many entrepreneurs, that was why we have chosen Kaduna from where we shall spread to other states in the region,” he said.

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