Monday,January 04, 2021 / 4:34 PM / Taiyese Nifemi for WebTV / Header Image Credit:Innovation Circle

The Federal Government has been advised to leverageclusters and hubs in its intervention programmes for micro, small, andmedium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. Mr. Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye,Convener of the Lagos SME Boot camp made this call as a guest on a discussionreviewing the activities of MSMEs in 2020.

Describing the approach to the intervention by thegovernment and private sector in supporting MSMEs in the year, Mr. Akintujoyealluded to the fact that there was a reactive response from both the FederalExecutive Council (FEC) and the National Assembly (NASS).

The Convener of the Lagos SME Boot camp noted that inhis interactions with players in the MSME sector, only a few benefited from thevarious billions of naira committed to the interventions.He called forimprovement in the execution strategy for assisting MSMEs in 2021.

Noting the concerns about a second COVID-19 wave,Akintujoye warned that it could lead to another dark season for the MSMEsector.

He emphasized the need for effective leveraging ofdata aggregators, which he said was vital to achieving a greater effect on theactivities of MSME.

"With MSMEs accounting for 41.5 million corporateentities in Nigeria, and with the majority of them being in the informal sectorwhich is characterized by the absence of data, no information exists on howthey operate", he said.

He noted that MSMEs provide 84% of employment inNigeria, and so to achieve the desired impact of intervention programmes the governmentneeds to consider the informal nature of most MSMEs.

According to him, some measures for improving datagathering around MSMEs should include;

1. Using informal organizers/aggregators of MSMEs to dialogue with the government for sustainable partnerships such as cooperative societies, market women associations, transport union etc.
2. Government painstakingly identifying business clusters in agriculture, beauty, fashion, construction support, food space etc.
3. Ramping up of efforts by SMEDAN in collecting data of MSMEs.

Giving a review of the year 2020 activities  inthe MSME space, he highlighted the key activities that stood out for him whichare the following;

• The suspension of Africa's biggest MSME support platform; The Tony Elumelu Foundation because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• The landmark that was recorded by the Lagos SME Boot camp as it witnessed its largest gathering in 2020 with about 1,300 MSMEs in participation since its inception.
• The MSME Standards event focused on the impact of MSMEs in the economy with experts.
• MTN's all-encompassing program that provided MSMEs with training, technical support and funding.
• The Mobilization of State governments to provide various platforms for supporting MSMEs, all of which helped cushion the impact of COVID19 among MSMEs.

On MSME regulation, Akintujoye said that the BuhariAdministration has eased the tax and registration burden on MSMEs, with a lotof waivers put in place for filing, he noted that VAT and Company Income Tax(CIT) were also relaxed.

He added that the Revised CAMA 2020 Act suspendedarchaic regulations as it concerned small and medium-sized businesses. On thereopening of the land borders,  he said businesses could go back totrading across borders with transcontinental MSME trade partners.

Akintujoye appealed for more support for MSMEs in theyear 2021, believing that success would rest in collaborative efforts betweenthe public and private sector.

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