Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there is need for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) to leverage technology to improve their performances.
The vice president was represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, at the National MSMEs Discourse, titled ‘’Little Beginning, Huge Impact,’’
“Indeed, in this digital age, it will be important to explore strategy by which small businesses can use technology to improve their performances.
“Just as they would be useful to identifying ways and means which they could be linked to larger companies through outsourcing or supply contracts.’’
He said that the Federal Government had supported MSMEs in various ways including the MSMEs Clinics which were conducted through a partnership of MDAs that were consumer friendly.
Osinbajo said that the MSMEs Week was the latest initiative in the effort to support MSMEs.
“Over the past few years, we have held a national MSMEs day in tandem with World MSMEs Day as declared by the United Nations.
“However, in order to further build the profile of MSMEs and promote understanding of the sector, we decided to dedicate the whole of this week to promoting awareness about the achievements of our MSMEs and highlighting their needs.
“Most of us know that MSMEs Clinics were designed to support businesses by bringing them together in one place with Abuja regulatory agencies in various states.
`By so doing, we help MSMEs to have their businesses related concerns addressed while they also learn firsthand about regulatory requirements.
“In addition to clinics, which so far has been held in 27 states, the initiative has been extended to encourage states to establish one-stop-shop and shared facilities.’’
He said that the Federal Government had also introduced a number of other schemes and initiatives aimed at supporting the operations of MSMEs.
According to him, the government had introduced arrangements in its development finance institutions to de-risk lending to MSMEs.
“Similarly, we have exempted small businesses with a turnover of less than N20m from tax, while those with a turnover of less than N100 million now benefit from a one-third reduction in the corporate income tax rate from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.
“Also equally notable is the support that the Federal Government extended to small businesses in the particular context of COVID-19 through the Economic Sustainability Plan(ESP).
NAN
