President’s interventions yet to impact MSMEs -Business owners

Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON) says several initiatives of President Bola Tinubu’s administration are gradually improving the business environment.

Its National President, Dr Femi Egbeshola, said this Ibadan yesterday.

Egbeshola cited the establishment of the National Credit Guarantee Limited as a major boost to MSMEs’ access to finance.

According to him, it enables businesses to obtain loans from commercial banks without traditional collateral.

“With up to 65 per cent to 70 per cent guarantee on loans, banks are now more willing to lend to MSMEs,” he said.

Egbesola also lauded the National Single Window Platform, which he said, had reduced bureaucracy, improved transparency and curtailed human interface in government transactions.

“The platform has significantly reduced delays at ports and government agencies while helping to curb corruption,” he said.

He further identified the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Growth Board as another milestone, allowing limited liability companies to access investment opportunities without converting to public limited companies.
According to him, the Business Integrity Certification programme has also helped Nigerian businesses regain credibility within the international community.

“This certification serves as validation that a business is credible and trustworthy,” he said.

Egbesola also welcomed the liberalisation of access to foreign exchange and export incentives under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s RT200 billion programme, which he said had contributed to the growth in non-oil exports.

He added that government policies encouraging backward integration had pushed MSMEs to source raw materials locally, reducing dependence on imports.

The ASBON boss, however, said most of its members were yet to get the full impact of the government’s interventions, in spite of being beneficiaries of several policy initiatives.

Egbesola said, although, ASBON was recognised by the government as one of the accredited Business Membership Organisations under the National MSME Policy, the quantity and quality of interventions reaching operators remained inadequate.

“Most times, the benefits are not as much in quantity as they appear in the media.

“The gap between the intervention and the real needs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are still very wide,” he said.

He noted that small-scale interventions, such as grants of N50,000 or loans of five million naira to medium enterprises, were grossly insufficient to drive meaningful growth.

He said, “ASBON, which recently marked its 14th anniversary, has over 68,700 members nationwide cutting across 18 sector groups, adding that the number of its members far outweighs the interventions to the sector.”

Commenting on fiscal and monetary policy reforms, Egbesola said, while the reforms were necessary, their impact on micro and small businesses had been largely negative in the short term.

He disclosed that about eight per cent of MSMEs had shut down in the last two years due to harsh operating conditions.

“While large corporations may be recording gains, MSMEs are struggling to survive. The reforms have not been adequately cushioned with social safety nets,” Egbesola said.

He stressed the need for the government to work closely with stakeholders in the MSME ecosystem in designing and implementing interventions.

“MSMEs should not just be invited to eat at the table; they should be involved in cooking the food. We must be co-creators and co-implementers of policies,” he said.

Egbesola described MSMEs as the engine of economic growth and the largest employers of labour.

He urged the government to pay greater attention to the sector to prevent further business closures. (NAN)