The maiden awards to reward excellence in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hold later this year.
The awards, christened Nigeria SMEs Awards for Excellence (Nsafe Awards), according to the organizers, Lakewhyte Communications, are scheduled for September.

The programme, the Relationship Manager of Lakewhyte, Mrs Taiwo Talabi, said, in a statement in Lagos, is being organized in conjunction with stakeholders in the SMEs subsector and relevant government agencies. Talabi stated that a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Pastor P.Z. Aginighan, and the Chairman of Katsina State Investment Company, Alhaji Kankia, among others, are on the Advisory Board of Nsafe Awards.

Stressing the imperative of the awards, Talabi said, “The awards are a novelty in a country where poverty levels keep rising in spite of our huge economic potentials. The overarching goal is that small business owners will be encouraged to remain in businesses against all odds and contribute their own bit to Nigeria’s economy. We will also use the avenue that the awards will provide to imbue SME owners with the new knowledge they will need to remain competitive in a fast-changing global market with all its intricate dynamics”.