Abuja Enterprise partners USAID on MSMEs

The Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA), in collaboration with the Feed the Future Nigeria Agriculture Investment Activity, a USAID project, yesterday, organised a one- day workshop on the implementation of policies targeted at Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ (MSMEs’) development.

City & Crime reports that the event was attended by stakeholders, including the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Raw Materials Research Development Council (RMRDC), FCT-IRS, among others.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of AEA, Mallam Shehu Abubakar, said the agency was aimed at job and wealth creation, as well as poverty reduction, by creating an enabling environment for MSMEs to thrive in the nation’s capital.

The MD, who listed some of the efforts of the agency to achieve the above objectives, said it had created “One Stop Shop’, which was a hub made up of not less than 14 government regulatory agencies and finance institutions with their desk officials attending to MSMEs-related issues.

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He explained that through the initiative many entrepreneurs got their licences from the CAC, NAFDAC, among others, with ease and cheaper, as well as had access to finance.

He implored the participants to take advantage of the workshop to network with the aim of taking their businesses to the next level.

Also speaking, Olunide Ojo, Chief of Party and Managing Director of  Feed the Future Nigeria Agriculture Investment Activity, commended AEA for its untiring efforts to create an enabling environment to ease business activities in the nation’s capital.

He listed ease of doing business as the major challenge in business development and commended the Agency for creating a platform that has been enabling business registration and access to finance.

Hussein Yahaya & Abubakar Hauwa