Lagos – A business expert, Mrs Raliat Oyetunde, said on Friday that 60 per cent of Small and Medium Enterprise operators required training, not funds, to succeed.
Oyetunde, the Chief Executive Officer, Prinsult Consulting Ltd, and a Business Development Service Provider (BDSP) for the Bank of Industry (BoI), made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
She said that training was essential for the SMEs to operate and survive the present economic challenges in the country.
According to her, adequate training will assist the SMEs to navigate the volatile economic situation of the country and reduce the deaths of many businesses.
“Many SME operators, even when empowered with funds, will still fail because they lacked the prerequisite training to manage a business.
“They need to be trained on how to overcome the initial hiccups, how to survive in the environment and how to market their products.
“They need to know how to source their raw materials, how to site their factories close to their sources of raw materials and how to work with very lean resources.
“Often times, you see SME operators run into trouble, because they want to start big. They suddenly want to start a business with N10 million when they have not even managed N500, 000,” she said.
Oyetunde stressed that capacity building for operators would create more jobs, reduce poverty and the level of non-performing loans and boost economic growth.
“While it is very important to provide financial support to the SMEs, we must also consider their ability to make judicious use of such funds to achieve the desired results.
“If SMEs are not effectively equipped with the right training and skills, it will be difficult for them to utilise the funds made available to them.”
Oyetunde urged the government and the private sector to collaborate and provide quality training for the SMEs, to enthrone sustainable economic development. (NAN)