£$S Nigerian Tribune
19
Friday, 17 June, 2011
Funding, bane of MSME development in Nigeria - DC SMEDAN Gbo la Suba lr. Lagos
T:
-IEDireclor-eeneral of the Small and to.'Iedium Enterprises De"elopmen t Agency o f Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhi'lji Mu hammad Nadada Vmar, has stressed the need for dedicated banks
to fund s mall and medium en terprises (SMEs) in Nigeria to ease their fiJlancial dif-
ficulties. Alhilj; VOla r noted this while receiving iI tcam from the Deutcshe Gescllschaft (ur Intcrnationa le Z usammena rbeit {G IZ). a German organisa ti on working on it new private--
sector
dc\'c lo pmenl
programme aimed at impro\'ing the access of micro, s mall and medium t'1lterprises (MSMEs) to 6nandi'll services.
The deve lopment programme, named Sustainable Econonl;c Develop me nt in Nigeria (SEOfN). also aims to fosler employment within MSMEs thro ug h an improved business-i.'nabling environmenl. Alhaj i Umar, who no ted the similarities in the m"ndates of SMEDAN and SE DIN sai d that w hile fund ing posed the grea test challenge to the development of M~JEs in the rountry, SMEDAN remain,ed ronunilted to helping them s u rmount all challenge in the course of their growth and development through partnership with donor agencies, financial instill_lions and other government agencies that could make positi ve impact in the sustainability of the MSMEs. E..,rlier at the interactive session of the two bodies w hich was held at the SMEDAN Headqua rters in Abu ja, the visiting Adv isors fro m G IZ, Mr Alexander Speed and Mr KJaus Reiner, in company of the Local Economic Development Coordinator, Ma rs"rel Joshua , expressed excitement at the prospect of a possible collabor-uion with SMEDAN, adding Ihat the objectives of the rooperalion would ha \·e a huge impdcl on Ihe nation·s ccollomy w ith the s upport of the Fed e ril l
Governmenl . Mr Alexander Speed said that the promotion of selected value chains from three selected states in Nige ri a, includ ing Niser Sta te, would enable the programme 10 ascertain the effects of Nigeria 's fi· nanda l sector refonTls in line w ith targe t g roup needs and conditions al fed eral, s ta te an d loca l government levels. " Embedded in the Fi· nancia l Sector Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) and the strategic approaches for pri va te-secto r den-Iopment unde r the genera l Visi on 20:2020, ou r programme will adopt an integral capacity development approach at the inte rface of public, private and fi nancial sectors". Explaining fu rther, Mr Rei ner s"id that s upport would be given to review· ing the microfinance policy. the regulation and ce rtification of microfinancc banks and introduction of microinsurance. "Of prime concern'·, he added, "are reforms in land and company registration. planning and taxation systerns iust as we are also looking at providing support to Nigeria in reg;onal conve rgence " 'ith ECOWAS which" we assure, wou ld ~romote the imple men tation of
He no ted
that
Executive Head, Curren cy Operation Dep artment, Central Bank o f lku seedun a nd Deputy Director, Cons ultan cy, Tra ining a nd ResellTch, CI8 N, A lex Anam eje. du ring a n af/onal worksh op on integrate d cash man agem ent, o rgan ised by Cl8N in col/6boration with Committee of Head o f Ban b Op eration, which was held at Sh era ton Hotels, Lagos, recently. Pho to: Syl vester Okoru wa. Mr. Uju
Recapitalisation: Spring Bank discusses
TIE
management of Spring Bank Pic has sa id that the recapitalisation process of the bank is elll course. According to a s tatement from the bank. Spring Bank is currently engaged in ad va nced discussions with fou r slrong investment rontenders some of whom
are the.second largest bank in India, IClCI; United States based Cloud leap Partners LCC; C ARAM Ca pila l and a couple o f others. The discuss ions. the statement fu rther said. re:cently stepped in to higher gear and have seen the bank and its financial ad·
Union Bank hosts international conference on agric financing
U
N ION Bank o r Ni-geria Pic. in co llab o ration w ith the In ternational Crops Resea rch Insti tute fo r the Semi A rid Trop· ics (IC RI Si\T), will be hos ting two-da y Internatio nal co n ference on ag ri cu ltura l finan c ing enti tled : Finan cing ag-
of financia l and
the
tors, industrialists and rt'search &development specialists from N igeria and abroad tostrategisethebest of boosting. The th eme was evolved arou nd financin g agricultural value cha in in sub- Saharan Africa. It ricultura l chain in is also primed to identify su b- Sa h aran Africa bankable agric projects by in AbuJa. this w eek. financial institutions, im· The conference wou ld p rove ri sk identification bring together actors along and miti gat ion by lendthe agricult u ra l \'alu e tors; foster g reater und erchai n namely Resea rch· sta nding o f lende rs' ex · ers, farme rs (small, me- pectations by farmers and dium, large);Traders (re· betl'er policy a lign m ent tailers, w holesal e~); .scmi· wH h sector real it ies by wholesalers; Large whole- .. regulatory agendes. salers; processors (small, The o rganisers identimedium and large); I!)I - fied the agrarian nature of porters; consumers bank· man y co untries in th.e ers cooperatives. regulami A rid T rop-its <5; r.
and Su b S.,haran Africa (SSA) regions of th e world with the agric sec· tor con t rib u ting up to 70% or the GOP. The Tr"nscorp Hi lton Hotel, the venue, would a ll racl intern ational speakers like Dr Ayodele Tcriba, auef Executi\'e of Econom ics Associa tes; Professor James Olukosi of Institute of Agricultural research, Ahmadu Bello Un~versity and erstwhile Coordinator" West African Farming System s Research Network; Dr Konnawa,. UNIOO Representative.and Director, Regional offi ce, Abuja and Cynthia Bantilan, a G lobal Theme I Scientist
with IOCL Cloud Leap, CARAM vise rs working assiduously to ensure iI snlooth and successful transaction that will produ ce a p reffered part ner acceptable to all stakeholders of the bank. The bank, w h ich s us, .. ined a stead y positive growth perfonnam:e forthe last 18 mo n ths ha ving posled a profit for the first time in its six·year exis t~ cnee, had remained quiet on the details o f its
recapitalisation while ens uring careful assessment of e..ch investor. TIle statement said: "As much as we are interested in the prompt conclusion of arrangements in this direction" we are also keen on getling the best deal which necessitated taking our time and being very cautious. For us, it is not just how fast but how well we e nd it w ithi n the given timeline.
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