In commemoration of the world Micro Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Day, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has sensitised no fewer than 200 entrepreneurs on innovation and how to add value to their products in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, on Thursday.
The two days programmes which started with road walk within Ilorin metropolis witnessed a large turnout of participants cutting across different segments of the economy.
Speaking during the programme themed: ‘Big money for small business: financing the sustainable development goals,’ the Manager of SMEDAN office Kwara State, Engr. Zainab Abdulmalik said the programme is targeted at sensitising the small business owners on how to carve a niche for themselves and assist them in branding their products.
“On the first day we had free acquisition skills where how to manufacture certain products, like air freshener and liquid soap were taught.
” We also taught them on paint production, interlocking among others, mainly to expose the participants to self-reliance and enable the think outside the box in order to bring out the creativity in them.
According to her, for the second session of the programme, there was a seminar to unveil plans by the Federal Government through various programmes of SMEDAN to facilitate finance for the entrepreneurs.
She noted that there have been instances where the agency even funded cooperative groups through programmes like the ‘One Local Government One Product’ in which each cooperative benefitted N4 million fund for agriculture in each of the three senatorial districts of the state.
She said, ” These cooperatives are doing very well as the agency has been monitoring their activities and assisting them when necessary in packaging to move them from the informal sector to formal sector in compliance with NAFDAC standard.
Other guest speakers who are partners to SMEDAN also encouraged the participants to always look inwards to ensure that the quality and value of their products and service is outstanding for more patronage.
