By Favour Nnabugwu

Over 386,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and 7,568 business plans have been made ready for National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) for access to financial assistance under the programme.

The Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Dr Umaru Dikko Radda at a recommitment with all the stakeholders at a meeting of NEDEP in Abuja on Thursday said a total of 386,000 new enterprises have been established under the programme.

Dikko also revealed that 7, 568 business plans have been made available with 55,605 cooperative formed and registered under the NEDEP.

Speaking on the challenges facing the programme, Dikko lamented lack of proper synergy among the implementing institutions with the inadequate funding for the programme coupled with stringent conditions for accessing finance by the MSMEs.

He further regretted that poor packaging of business plan, lack of effective coordination; low operational capacity of MSMEs and slow buy-in by State governments.

On the deliverables of NEDEP, the Smedan DG expressed the programmes has been able to institutionalised restructuring of the programme; formation and registration of cooperative; enterprise development, job creation; policy selection, value chain analysis and base line survey. He said training and capacity and has been able to engage business development service providers in each of the geo-political zone.