By Franklin Alli
CHIEF Executive Officers of Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) organisations have identified numerous factors inhibiting the growth and development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to include lack of adequate structures and harsh operating environment, amongst others. The BDSPs CEOs, unfolded the challenges during the Bank of Industry (BoI) customers’ engagement forum, tagged “Growing MSMEs in Lagos and Ogun States: The Challenges and Prospects.”

The Managing Director of W-holistic Business Solution Limited, Mrs. Lanre Oniyitan, who is also BDSP, disclosed that MSMEs are not growing as fast as they should because of their inability to deepen their quality and increase their turnaround time. According to her, MSMEs can occupy a larger role compared to what they are currently doing, but the reason most of them fail is due to absence of right and adequate structures.

She urged the federal government to provide incentives for large enterprises to integrate SMEs into their value chain while also empowering relevant regulatory agencies to protect local industries from the influx of fake and substandard goods  into the country. She also tasked BoI to evaluate its portfolio to ensure that it supports SMEs beyond numbers, saying that SMEs need pre and post financial investment support to actualize their  dreams.

Also speaking, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Rofenik Associates and Investment Limited, Olufemi Ogunje, noted: “The challenges faced by MSMEs are self-induced by MSMEs such as absentee management, limited knowledge of the business, under-capitalization, improper record keeping, intentional poor debit servicing and ineffective management, and other bottlenecks are government induced and environment induced.”

She emphasized that the growth of MSMEs in Lagos and Ogun States must be supported to provide job opportunities, better performance and positive impact on human life.

The Regional Head-Lagos Region, BoI, Akinsola Adetokunbo, said that at the bank, all hands are on deck to see the dreams of small business owners come to reality by supporting and empowering them with the requisite skills and financial resources needed to survive the operating environment in Nigeria.

“The essence of organising this customer forum was actually to engage our customers to hear them out and seek areas of adjustment in order to make them happy and better customers.