The MSME Forum plans to create a bank to finance small businesses
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Forum (MSME Forum), the umbrella body for all registered associations of MSMEs in Nigeria, has announced plans to establish an MSME bank to cater to their particular financing needs.
Dr. Olajide Akinyemi, Chairman of the MSME Forum Board, revealed this on Thursday in Abuja during the official inauguration of the Forum.
Akinyemi noted that despite the huge economic potential of the MSME sector in Nigeria, the sector is still largely underdeveloped and underutilized. He said the creation of the bank is a central program of the five-year strategic plan.
“We are also pushing for the creation of the MSME bank. Funding is a big issue for MSMEs as the majority of them lack management capacity. But if we set up our own bank, we know what the challenges are and we will be able to finance, regulate and grow MSMEs in Nigeria. We expect the bank to be the largest in Africa,” he said.
He acknowledged the efforts of government and other institutions that have tried to support MSMEs. However, he said these policies have not really gained traction due to a lack of understanding of the particularities of MSMEs and the unorganized nature of MSMEs in Nigeria.
“We have around 40 million MSMEs and they are languishing in poverty because we don’t understand the sector’s contribution to the economy. Government policies, although good and robust, their impacts have not been felt as the sector is unorganized. They fail to come together and speak with one voice,” he said.
Dr. Akinyemi noted that the five-year strategic plan is one that every MSME, down to local governments, will be recognized and able to influence government policies. He also said that the particularities of MSMEs will be tackled down to the local level.
Speaking on the composition of the MSME Forum, he said that there are over 165 MSME associations registered with the Forum. He added that some MSME associations had more than 5 million members.
