esme1, Author at Enugu SME Centre

Dangote Commits $700m To Sugar Production

The management of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has said it is committing over $700m to its sugar projects to support the Backward Integration Policy of the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in sugar production.

According to a statement issued by Dangote Industries Limited, the company disclosed this to visiting members of the Nasarawa House of Assembly last weekend.

The company noted that Nigeria was one of the sub-Saharan Africa’s largest importers of sugar, second only to South Africa with an annual import of over $337m.

The Dangote Sugar management however, assured the lawmakers that with the completion of its sugar projects in Nasarawa and Adamawa under the BIP, the nation would be saved more than half of the forex expended on sugar imports annually.

It added that the investment would also lift its people as other people-oriented infrastructures would come with the sugar projects.

The state lawmakers commended the Dangote Group for choice of the state for the project and the accelerated pace with which the project was being executed, despite occasional delays arising from communal disagreements.

General Manager for the BIP, Dangote Sugar, John Beverley said when the factory was fully operational, it would have the capacity to crush 12,000 tons of cane per day, while 90MW power would be generated for both the company’s use and host communities.

He also disclosed that some 500km roads in all would be constructed to ease transportation within the vicinity.

He solicited the support of the lawmakers in controlling the menace of land encroachment by settlers and itinerant farmers.

The Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Abdullah, and his team members, who were conducted round the company’s 78,000 hectares BIP in Tunga Awe Local Government Area commended the company for the project.

Abdullah noted that it would not only open up opportunities in the state but in Africa as a whole, and said the lawmakers were ready to partner and support the company towards the realisation of the sugar project through relevant legislations.

When the phase II of the project is completed, according to the company, it will make it the largest sugar refining plant in Africa.

SOURCE

Congratulations to our CAC Formalization Grant beneficiaries!

The issuance of the first batch of the Certificate from the CAC Formalization Grant began on Thursday 15th April 2021, and it was huge success.

By the end of May 2021, the distribution of 6,606 certificate wil be completed.

Note: If you receive an invite, you are mandated come to the office with it

If you don’t make the final cut off, you can reapply under the Enugu State CAC Formalization Matching Grant that would soon kick-off.

We thank our Governor, his Excellency Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwanyi for making it possible for Ndi Enugu to benefit from this scheme, and for also approving the Enugu State CAC Formalization Matching Grant for 2021 Budget of the Enugu SME Center, which would soon kick-off for business owners and youth who didn’t make the final cut (also for new applicants) to register their businesses.

Signed,
Hon. Arinze Chilo-Offiah
Special Adviser, SME Development
Head, Enugu SME Center.

Business recovery interventions SMEs should explore

POST-COVID business recovery interventions SMEs should explore in 2021

There is no gainsaying what the coronavirus pandemic did in global socio-economic realities. What is also irrefutable is that small business have been the worse hit amongst the victims’ rollcalls.

Beyond the economic uncertainty challenging a sustainable business environment, there was also the ravaging impact of the pandemic on healthcare that slowed productivity, hampered manpower and piled pressure on the unemployment scourge.

A steadily rising inflation now peaked at over 18% in April 2021, coupled with an economy that dipped into recession and back, acerbated by violent civil unrest and insecurities that slowed pan-Nigerian logistics, the Nigerian small business proponents have experienced a perfect storm.

According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) remain critical to the country’s economy, contributing about 48% of the national GDP in the last five years and accounted for 84% of the national workforce.

Despite these contributions to the Nigerian economy, SMEs continue to face growth-hampering challenges such as lack of access to funding, skilled human resources, high cost of doing business, among others. These existing conditions already posit a challenging environment for SMEs to thrive; the pandemic’s entry into the equation will surely heighten their difficulties and slow their capacity to bounce back from this economic pandemic.

According to a survey by FATE Foundation and Budgit on the impact of COVID-19 on Nigerian on small businesses, 94.3% said the pandemic adversely disrupted their operations. 72.2% said the pandemic impacted their cash-flow; 67.8% said their sales went south, and 59.2% said their revenue took a hit.

In tackling what may be the most challenging global health and economic crises of our time, the instinctive response would expectedly tilt towards immediate needs such as health, food, security, and jobs. However, there is an urgent need to prioritise interventions for the SME sector – the backbone of major developing economies.

We have identified three existing business interventions that SMEs in Nigeria should leverage to recover from the pandemic’s overwhelming effect. These interventions and programmes include:

The Federal Government MSME Survival Fund: A couple of months ago, the FG launched the Survival Fund Programme targeted at individual artisans and small businesses. The Survival Fund Programme (www.survivalfund.gov.ng) is part of the Economic Sustainability Plan, which aims to support and protect businesses from the potential vulnerabilities brought by the COVID 19 pandemic.The programme categorised into Payroll Support, Guaranteed Offtake, and MSME grant, is designed to provide a cushioning effect to business owners’ pain points. With the Payroll Support, business owners are assisted in paying employees; the Guaranteed Offtake helps businesses kickstart or rebuild, while the MSME Grant provided free funding for badly hit MSMEs. The programme is opened to any Nigerian with a running business (either registered or not registered).
LSETF MSME Loan Programmes: The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) was established with a core mandate to tackle unemployment, promote job creation, entrepreneurship, and skills development in the state. The Loan Programme, one of its intervention vehicles, provides access to affordable funding for small business entrepreneurs.

Cryptocurrency Ban: Turkey, says risks are too big

Turkey bans Cryptocurrency payments, says risks are too big

The Turkish central bank banned the use of cryptocurrency as a form of payment from April 30, saying the level of anonymity behind the digital tokens brings the risk of “non-recoverable” losses.

The curbs also prohibit companies that handle payments and electronic fund transfers from processing transactions involving cryptocurrency platforms, according to a decree published in the official government gazette on Friday.

A lack of regulation, supervision mechanisms or central regulatory authority, combined with the potential for criminal activity and the high volatility of their market value, mean digital tokens entail “significant risks,” the central bank said in a statement on its website.

In March, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said it shared the “global concern” about the development of cryptocurrencies.

The ministry signaled it was working on regulations in cooperation with the central bank, the banking regulator and Turkey’s capital markets board.

Complaints from Turks mentioning cryptocurrencies soared by 8,616% in February from a year earlier, according to data from consumer forum Sikayetvar.

Source

Naira gains 0.21% at investors window amid low dollar supply

Nigeria’s currency, Naira, on Monday gained 0.21 percent in its value against the dollar, which closed at N409.13k compared to N410.00k closed on Friday at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window.

The naira appreciation was attributed to moderation in the demand for the dollars by the end users who buy to meet their import obligations.

Currency traders who participated in the trading on Monday maintained bids at between N400.00k and N410.50k/$, data from the FMDQ show.

The daily foreign exchange market turnover declined by 57.42 percent to $30.84 million on Monday from $72.43 million recorded on Friday.

Exchange rate remained flat at N485 at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market and the parallel market.

The money market on Monday, the Nigeria Treasury Bills secondary market closed on a flat note, with the average yield across the curve remaining unchanged at 4.22 percent, according to a report by FSDH Research. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities closed at 2.47 percent, 3.95 percent, and 5.34 percent, respectively.

In the Open Market Operation (OMO) bills market, the average yield across the curve decreased by 6 bps to close at 6.49 percent on Monday as against the last close of 6.55 percent. Buying interest was seen across long-term maturities with average yield declining by 8 bps.

However, the average yields across short-term and medium-term maturities remained unchanged at 4.21 percent and 5.86 percent, respectively.

Yields on 13 bills compressed with the 12-Oct-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield decline of 32 bps, while yields on 12 bills remained unchanged.

ESME Money BootCamp

Be a part of this 1-Day ESME Money BootCamp

Cost of food keeps increasing

Rent, Education, Healthcare didn’t stop either

The youth and #MSMEcommunities asked and we listened.

Insights from the gathered data tops that steady flow of income, cashflow, savings and investment opportunities is what the people want.

This is why on Saturday, 27th March 2021, the Head of Enugu SME Center, Hon. Arinze Chilo-Offiah and Tosin Olaseinde of the Money Africa will share the little known strategies of how money works, and help you understand financial trends.

Be a part of this 1-Day ESME Money BootCamp.

P.S:-
Date: Saturday, 27 March 2021
Time: 9am- 3pm
Venue: Oaklands Hotel- Delta Hall

N42bn debt: Reps ask telcos to halt planned suspension of USSD services

The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged telecommunication operators in the country to halt the planned withdrawal and suspension of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services to banks and other financial institutions.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria had threatened to disconnect financial service providers from USSD from Monday, March 15, 2021 until the concerned institutions pay the over N42 billion debt they owe the telcos.

But the House, while adopting a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) at plenary, mandated the Committee on Telecommunications to liaise with telecommunications operators, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian banks and other financial institutions with a view to resolving the impasse and report back to the House within six weeks for further legislative action.

Moving the motion, Ossai noted that the CBN, in a bid to realise one of its statutory mandates of promoting monetary stability and a sound financial system in Nigeria, designed a cashless policy that would provide innovations, easy mobile payment, cost reduction and convenient financial services to millions of Nigerians living in urban and rural areas.

He said one of the innovations introduced is the USSD services which is used by Global System for Mobile Communication Technology to communicate with their service providers’ computers via text messages to check account balance or mobile airtime, generate bank statement or do fund transfer and data balance enquiries or to receive one-time passwords or pin codes.

The lawmaker further noted that the USSD service which is controlled by Mobile Network Operators is a critical infrastructure used to provide mobile financial services to banks and other financial institutions in cell phones at very low cost, without requiring access to the user’s SIM card.

Ossai said the USSD infrastructure service houses all the Nigeria telecommunications operators – MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9Mobile – and internet service providers.

He observed that the USSD made it possible for millions of Nigerians who do not have smartphones or data/internet connections to access banking and other financial services on a daily basis, especially during the COVID-19 movement restrictions.

Access Bank Buoys Digital Payments for SMEs With SwiftPay

A digital payment service that facilitates the receipt of business payments called SwiftPay has been introduced by Access Bank Plc.

The platform was designed to boost the facilitation of payments between SME and retail customers in the digital space by enabling customers to make quick, easy and secure digital payments on social media platforms to merchants.

“SwiftPay is free and the processing charge is discounted up to 15 per cent to ensure merchants keep most of their earnings.

“In recent times, e-commerce has been challenged with the rise in fraud on social media, we have ensured that every merchant registered on SwiftPay carries a ‘verified by access’ stamp to authenticate the page giving customers confidence when they transact.

“We have been focused on providing solutions targeted at boosting the economy because we believe it is our responsibility to contribute to the stimulation of economic growth.

“With the launch of SwiftPay by Access, we are renewing our commitment to providing the much-needed technical support to our SMEs,” the Group Head of Emerging Businesses at Access Bank Plc, Mrs Ayodele Olojede, said at the unveiling of the new product in Lagos.

She also explained that the lockdown experienced in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in less in-person interactions and less in-person payment options.

According to her, statistics from a survey carried out post-lockdown showed that MSMEs were impacted by cash flow, revenue and sales while adding that the impact of the pandemic made more apparent the lack of infrastructure and access to digital resources for small businesses.

“This is why Access Bank introduced SwiftPay to support the digital transition and growth of SME businesses.

“This product is part of the bank’s commitment to supporting SMEs to meet their business objectives despite the times.

“The new service comes in form of a payment link that can be hosted on merchants’ social media pages and sent to anyone to pay and conclude business transactions.

“It is easy and takes less than 5 minutes for interested merchants to sign up as it is convenient and time-saving for everyone,” she said.

SOURCE

Ndi-Enugu: Registration for Enugu Skillers Associates

Ndi-Enugu! Do you know you can get paid from sharing your wealth of experience? If you are an expert in any of the listed fields below,

Kindly register here: www.enuguskillers.com
To join the ENUGU SKILLERS ASSOCIATES (ESA) and be part of the Enugu Skillers Project under the ZERO interest Human Development Loans (HCDL)

Or visit ENUGU SME CENTER at No. 2 Market Garden Avenue by Ebeano Tunnel Round-about, GRA, Enugu.

Areas:
Tiling,
Carpentry,
Welding,
Plumbing,
Electrical Installation,
Drywall and Painting,
Solar –Inverter Installation & Maintenance,
Wallpaper Installation,
POP Installation and Wall Screeding
Concrete Construction Work, etc.

Ndi-Enugu!

EnuguSkillUp #GburuGburuIsSME #Humancapital

Artisans #MSE #Smallbusiness

The building and construction industry is a fast-growing sector and one of the most important industries in the Nigerian economy, Over the last decade, several changes have occurred in Nigeria, which has helped all sectors of the economy, especially the building & construction sector. With double-digit growth rates in the last 3 years, the construction industry has outgrown all other sectors of the Nigerian economy. The Industry accounted for 4 percent of the Country’s total GDP of N27.22 trillion Naira in Q2 2017. Despite its impressive performance, the industry faces a significant number of challenges including the lack of local skilled labor. The Enugu state government is positioning Enugu youths to take advantage of the opportunity by equipping the youths with high demand skills in the construction industry to fill the skills gap and secure employment;

SME: Gender Bias and Inequality taken Seriously?

Sanyade Okoli, CEO of Alpha African Advisory, and Adenike Adeyinka, Executive Director, Fate Foundation, spoke to the Global Business Report about gender diversity and inequality at the Corporate and SME level.

How far have we come and how much further do we have to go? Be sure to watch this informative interview to celebrate International Women’s Day!

Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, Chief Commercial Officer of Mixta Africa, and Adia Sowho, Interim CEO of Thrive Agric, spoke to the Global Business Report about the significance of International Women’s Day. Plenty was discussed including whether to celebrate on March 8th or all year.

Gender SME

SOURCE LINK

Enugu SME Centre

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