Lagos State government has, through the State Employment Trust Fund, approved N4.5billion for 5,527 Medium Small Manufacturing Enterprises (MSMEs) in the last one year, the state Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said yesterday
This was disclosed during a four-day fair to match-up the local small-scale industrial giants with business development support providers, investors from the private sector, public regulatory support agencies at the state, federal as well as the foreign economic development institutions.
The governor, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello said:
- The Fund, in partnership with the UNDP and private sector employers, will also train 16,000 unemployed Lagosians in order to take up technical and vocational jobs.
- The state government would launch innovation driven enterprise framework to support business startups in the fourth quarter of this year.
- The government will continually implement enterprise-friendly policies and develop the critical infrastructure that would enhance the productivity and competitiveness of all businesses in the State.
- The government will support the growth of MSMEs and make concerted efforts to develop enterprise cluster parks especially the Imota Light Industrial Park.
Despite the contributions of the MSME sector to the Lagos economy, the sector’s competitiveness is weakened by limited access to credible, customised-business support.
It is hoped that with these, a challenge has been thrown to all players, both public and private to look inwards and develop the internal and external capacities of the local non-oil MSME for steady growth and global competitiveness.
Source: The Nation
