Nigeria’s federal government is set to inaugurate a Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Advisory Council.
Tola Adekunle-Johnson, the senior special assistant to the Vice President of Job Creations and SMEs, reiterated this in Abuja on Thursday at the graduation of 5,300 SMBs from Google’s Hustle Academy.
The SSA said the SME Advisory Council is aimed at supporting the over 40 million small businesses in Nigeria.
This graduation marked the continuation of the programme’s impact, with over 10,300 entrepreneurs having participated since its inception in 2022 with 4,400 from Nigeria.
The Hustle Academy, designed to address specific challenges faced by SMBs in Africa, offers practical skills and resources to help these businesses grow.
Adekunle-Johnson said the SME Council was necessary, going by the significant contributions of small businesses to the Nigerian economy, stressing that SMEs need huge support to thrive, especially now.
He said that the council comprising of seasoned entrepreneurs and professionals would provide advisory services on how to assist MSMEs in an accelerated manner.
Similarly, Charles Odii, the director-general of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said SMEs are the major drivers of any economy.
Odii said that about 96 per cent of businesses in the country are small businesses while multinationals like MTN, Google and other multinationals occupy four per cent of the ecosystem.
He said the SMBs created 80 per cent of the jobs in the economy and about 72 per cent of such businesses are led by women within the age range of 20 to 60 years.
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