Akwa Ibom: Empowering SMEs for sustainable development 

The Small and Medium Scale En­ter­prises (SMEs’) access to finance and training entrepreneurs to efficiently deploy such finances are key roles banks and governments should play, respectively.

For Akwa Ibom State, a pointer to the government’s commitment to growing SMEs’ sector is the existence of the Directorate for Microfinance and Enterprise Development, with responsibility to, among others, periodically organize business advisory and training of start-ups in what is tagged, ‘My Entrepreneurship Goals Programme (MEGP).

Finding innovative solutions to unlock sources of capital for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and training entrepreneurs should be one of the priorities for every far-sighted government.

Reason being that MSMEs play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries. They account for the majority of businesses worldwide and are important contributors to job creation and global economic development.

In Nigeria, most formal jobs are generated by SMEs, which create seven out of 10 jobs. However, capacity building  for entrepreneurs remains a key constraint to SME growth. It is also one of the most cited obstacle facing SMEs to grow their businesses in emerging markets and developing countries.

Also,  over 40 mil­lion MSMEs ex­ist in the coun­try, em­ploy­ing over 80 per cent of the coun­try’s pop­u­la­tion and con­tribut­ing about 50 per cent of the coun­try’s Gross Do­mes­tic Prod­uct (GDP).

Akwa Ibom State Government has however, taken major steps to address the chal­lenges fac­ing SMEs. Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel   had un­folded var­i­ous forms of sup­port for op­er­a­tors of such busi­nesses, knowing the SMEs constitute the foundation on which any economy rests. 

In fact, they are the engine room that powers economies around the world, including the developed economies. A country that seeks to have a strong economic base must have a thriving SMEs sector.

This understanding has been playing out in Akwa Ibom State where, in the last six years, Governor Emmanuel has been busy developing the SMEs sector by empowering small businesses and encouraging the setting up of new ones through various interventions that are aimed at supporting the state’s industrialization efforts.

His administration has been encouraging the people of the state, especially the youths, to demonstrate the Dakkada spirit by taking their destiny in their hands to chart the course that would change their socio-economic circumstances and, in so doing, contribute to the economic development of the state and Nigeria as a whole. In fact, the SMEs sector is one area where the philosophy is finding expression most – through self-help.

The youths are designing their destinies by taking advantage of the numerous opportunities that abound in the state to seek to become business owners in diverse areas such as hospitality for which the state is well known, fashion, agriculture, furniture making, ICT, among others.

Government’s efforts at supporting the growth of the SMEs sector is aimed at enabling it to contribute to the gradually changing status of Akwa Ibom from a public service to a private sector-driven state that would be Nigeria’s industrial hub and a major player in the economy of the West African sub-region. 

For instance,  the Directorate for Microfinance and Enterprise Development, with responsibility to, among others, periodically organize business advisory and training of start-ups in what is tagged, ‘My Entrepreneurship Goals Programme (MEGP) is a major pillar in empowering the SMEs in the state.

At one of such trainings that ran for three months, youths were trained and given orientation on businesses that are relevant to the development of the SMEs sector in the 21st Century. The curriculum of study for the programme was designed to develop small businesses through value addition. A major value addition to the growth of the SMEs sector is government’s commitment to attracting start-up funding for young entrepreneurs.

According to Governor Emmanuel,  the  Directorate for Microfinance and Enterprise development has been a channel for discovering enterprising youths in the state through the Dakkada entrepreneurship and business campaign. 

This led to the formation of Dakkada Multipurpose Cooperative Societies in all the 31 local government areas of the state, as well as the Dakkada Business Forum. The recruitment of over 18, 000 Dakkada ambassadors is part of efforts to ginger the youths to participate in shaping the economic fortunes of the state.

Analysts  said the failure of governments in Nigeria at the federal and state levels to match words with action has resulted in a situation in which there is a huge trust deficit between the people and governments. 

People are wont to view every government promise and action with skepticism and, in some cases, cynicism, if not outright hostility. This doesn’t seem to be the case in Akwa Ibom, where Governor Emmanuel has proved to a man whose word is his bond, the reason he has endeared himself to the people of the state.

Governor Emmanuel announced, on assumption of office in 2015, his intention to industrialize a state that was traditionally public service oriented. At that time, the state boasted of only one industrial establishment – Champion Breweries – which stood as a reminder of the Second Republic era of the late Clement Isong, when the state was part of Cross River State. By the time he was ending his first term, he had delivered about 16 functional industries in was nothing short of a feat. No government in Nigeria’s modern history had done that, whether at the federal or state levels.

With every sector – industrialization, infrastructure, health, manpower development, power, agriculture, aviation, among others – littered with unparalleled achievements, the people of the state have no difficulty trusting him to deliver on every promise he makes. 

The enthusiastic response to the effort to establish a strong SMEs sector to support the administration’s industrialization drive, especially by youths, is evidence of that trust. They now see themselves playing more active roles in their own personal economic emancipation and also contributing to the sustainable development of the state.

There is, at the moment, a frenzy among the youths to participate in the ‘Ibom 3000 Project’, a programme the government is putting in place to train a total of 3000 entrepreneurs in all the 31 local government areas of the state in different areas. The programme targets creation of over 14, 000 SMEs in industrial clusters to be set in the three senatorial districts of the state. The clusters will be equipped to offer the kind of specialized training that would enable entrepreneurs to go into such sectors like agriculture, mining, ICT, hospitality, leather and raffia works, fashion, furniture, confectionary, bakery, etc.

It is quite remarkable that while the government works to create direct, paid employment through establishment of industries in different parts of the state, it also encourages the people to create self-employment through entrepreneurship. It must be noted, also, that every entrepreneur will be in a position to offer employment to others, as there is no kind of business that only one person can operate. 

The benefits that will accrue in the entire value chain are quite enormous – availability of products and services at the micro, small and medium level, stimulation of economic activities, job creation and improvement in standard of living.