LCCI urges FG to address SMEs’ challenges

TOYIN KOMOLAFE

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government to go beyond financial interventions to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and provide infrastructure for businesses to thrive.
Vice President of the chamber, Mrs Toki Mabogunje, made the call in Lagos on Wednesday.
Mabogunje said that the challenges of the nation’s economy had made it imperative for the government to provide critical structures to facilitate sustainable growth of MSMEs and make them internationally competitive.

 
According to agency reports, she said there are greater challenges beyond funds confronting the MSMEs.
She identified the needed infrastructure as power, road, portable water and effective mass transportation system.
She said that power deficit increased operational cost of enterprises, reduced their production capacities, made Nigerian goods uncompetitive and contributed to the ailing of local industries.
“Roads are required to get goods to market; year-on-year, our agricultural produce waste and rot in the villages due to the poor conditions or lack of good roads.
“Potable water is needed for any aspect of human life, not to talk of business.
“Imagine how the lack of these precious inputs affects industries, whether micro, small, medium or large,” she said.
The chamber chairman said that there was a great need for mass transportation, stressing that poor infrastructure for the conveyance of cargo had stunted the growth of MSMEs and limited their opportunities.
She urged commercial banks to practice true banking by making access to funds easy for SME operators.
“There is the missing middle in financing of MSMEs. These are small and medium-size businesses that should be able to access the financial services that they require to grow through their banks.
“Unfortunately this is not happening for many reasons; the Commercial banks have appetite for large transactions and are averse to risks.
“The banks view SMEs as high risk and are unwilling to lend to them.
“Options outside traditional banking circles such as ‘Angel investors and venture capital’, though present in this economy, are very few.
“Our financial framework in this country is quite shallow and a bit volatile right now; long term financing is not readily available,” she said.
Mabogunje advocated business support services and training for operators of MSMEs to nurture and help them to find their way through the tough terrain of growing businesses.
“No matter how schooled they might think they are, managing a business is an education in itself.
“Being coached, mentored and tutored in this area increases their chances of succeeding at growing their own businesses,” she added.
She advised that concerted efforts to simplify the tax system for MSMEs and enact policy on government’s patronage of locally-produced goods should be pursued to encourage production of quality products for export.
“The fact is what needs to be done goes beyond money; it is money and a lot more,” she said.