SMEDAN’s revised policy to improve MSMEs — DG

Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Mr Dikko Radda has said the Revised National Policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will improve access to finance for enterprises.

Radda said this during a media briefing to unveil the Revised National Policy on MSMEs in Abuja recently.

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The first national policy was approved in 2007 and has been reviewed three times. The SMEDAN boss said the policy has introduced innovations.

He said the policy incorporated the macroeconomic policy thrust embedded in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy (2019-2021), the national Economic Growth and Recovery Programme (ERGP 2017-2020) introduced to pull Nigeria out of recession and the Finance Act 2020 with some explicit provision targeted at the MSMEs.

He said the policy also took into consideration the coming into effect of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Mr Radda also stated that the reviewed policy is aimed at fostering the emergence of new enterprises, especially among women and youths.

“It is aimed at accelerating the expansion of existing MSMEs along the value chain and promoting a smooth transition to large enterprises. It identifies and squarely addresses the challenges of the MSMEs, while also harnessing the ensuing opportunities in a Public Private Partnership fashion,” he said.