The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) has trained members of 16 cooperative societies under the National Agric-Preneurship Scheme.
Speaking during the exercise yesterday in Maiduguri, the Deputy Director of SMEDAN, Fatima Shuaibu, said the session was organised to meet with beneficiaries of the 2021 SMEDAN empowerment programme to reassess and evaluate their businesses.
She said, “Apart from the sensitisation and capacity building conducted on the Agric-Prenuership trained through the various cooperative societies, a total sum of N4,620,000,00 which translates to about N288,750.00 per cooperative was given as empowerment grants.”
She noted that the 16 cooperatives that have turned up came with positive results and have also enumerated their challenges and needed guidance on how to improve their businesses.
Fatima also said last year, 160 trainees were given N300,000 grant as start-up capital after acquiring the basic training on agri-business.
She said the beneficiaries were also educated on how to source funds from various federal government indicators; they were also encouraged to formalise their chosen businesses by registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the state Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) and related bodies.
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