SMEDAN Commissions Enterprise Hub in Yabatech

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria SMEDAN has officially commissioned and handed over the fully equipped Multi Million Naira Enterprise Hub it constructed at the Yaba College of Technology to the Global Entrepreneurship Network GEN. The initiative was part of efforts to promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

In the same vein, the Chairman, Governing Board, SMEDAN, Mr. Femi Pedro, has commended the federal government on its various supports towards SME development. However, he stressed the need for more to be done to enhance capacity building of SME operators.

Speaking at the launch of the Enterprise Hub, which is situated at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, the Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, said the agency plans to duplicate the hubs nationwide.

The centre is fully equipped with amenities to support entrepreneurs and have an array number of mentors to cater to various spares of businesses.

He said “As you are aware, MSMEs have been known all over the world to be the engine of the economic growth and contribute to the employment generation of any nation’s wealth creation, poverty alienation, and food security.

“It is therefore imperative, that we globally position and develop this important sub-sector, to generate the much-needed employment in the Nigeria economy”.

Dr. Radda noted that in the execution of her mandate, the Agency has identified a lot of gaps in the provision of Business Development Services (BDS) especially in major economic cities across Nigeria, adding From the last National MSMEs Survey conducted in 2013 by the Agency in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the cities of Lagos and Kano ranked the first and second highest respectively in the concentration of MSMEs in Nigeria.

He added: “As part of efforts to address challenges faced by these MSMEs in these two cities of Kano and Lagos, the agency established the Enterprise Hubs,  currently, he said, the agency is constructing another enterprise hub in Bauchi within the premises of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa university. Ultimately, these enterprise hubs will be located in all the geo-political zones of the country.

“Enterprise Hub is an integrated network of online and digital resource centers for emerging enterprises. The platform is for promotion of businesses across Africa, cooperate shared work space, virtual offices, contemporary business hub, online business to business market place, business support services, and a complete enterprise development services. It is a system that re-defines the way we live, work and learn.”

“The benefits of Enterprise Hubs are to significantly reduce the cost of basic facilities utilized by startups. Such as, office space facilities, high speed internet, and power. In other words, the role of the Enterprise Hub is to accelerate the successful development of MSME’s through provision and hiring of business resources and services.”

Also, Pedro said: “President Muhammadu Buhari has done quite a lot for SMEs in Nigeria and many of the programs are already known by everybody, particularly those that have to do with social programs like the school feeding programs and those that assist young graduates.

The event was also attended by the former minister of State Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar who is also the Chairperson GEN Nigeria. In her remarks she thanked SMEDAN for initiating the Hub project and called on the management of Yaba College of Technology to make good use of the facility as it would go a long way in producing entrepreneurs and innovators that would be of great service to the nation. All major stakeholders in the MSME sector of the nation were in attendance at the launching of the Enterprise Hub.