Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is billed to open up on the many initiatives of the Federal Government in support of SMEs as he chairs the 1st Abuja SME Conference next week.
The event put together by the National Chamber Policy Centre of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) in partnership with Brandmark Communications and other stakeholders has as its theme, ‘Solution Strategies for Resolving Tax, Regulatory, Packaging & Logistic Challenges Facing Nigerian SMEs.’
Others billed to speak at the conference include the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, the Minister of Trade and Investment (FMITI), Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, the executive director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Olusegun Awolowo, the managing director of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba and the director-general of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda.
According to a statement by the chamber’s media/strategy officer, Olayemi John-Mensah, the conference organisers said it is built as a statutory annual meeting point to analyse and proffer solutions to those problems.
“It is a platform for stakeholders in both government and non-governmental levels to grow and empower the SME operators,”, the statement noted.
The chairman of the planning committee, Olawale Rasheed described the forthcoming event as “a critical step to tackle and resolve the many stumbling blocks plaguing the sector”, adding “the platform is a gathering of regulators, operators and policy makers to create an action plan to find lasting solutions to bottlenecks holding down and killing our SMEs.”
