Kano businesses tasked on modernisation

The Kano business community has been challenged to embrace modernisation to optimise the opportunities available in the business world.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry, Nasiru Sani Gwarzo gave the charge on Wednesday when he met with the leadership of Kano Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (KACCIMA) and the business community in Kano.

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Gwarzo noted that while Kano is an ancient business city, most of the business entities in the city need to modernize their approaches to business, stressing the need among others for business owners in the state to register their business names and pay their taxes to be able to among other things benefit from interventions from the government.

Citing an example with agribusiness, Gwarzo said maximising the value-chain of this sector including processing, marketing, logistics and exports should be the focus, worrying that onions marketers for instance are still storing their produce inside sacks when they could approach plastic production companies for efficient storage in crate-like form.

He stressed that the narratives will change with mass education of the business and local communities and the institution of a think-tank within KACCIMA to come up with good examples that people can learn from.

He called for sensitization efforts to challenge women to convert even their kitchens to mini-factories to produce different products that can earn them more income.

Responding on behalf of the business community, president of KACCIMA, Dalhatu Abubakar, said the state has been losing out on some interventions due to poor awareness but with the interaction, they will take actions to address the situation.

He noted that a lot of Kano business people are wary of registering a business name or opening a corporate bank account mostly to avoid taxation, noting that the chamber is already making moves to sensitize them to change this perspective.