The Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, other regulators, experts, stakeholders from the financial services and ICT sectors, small business owners among others have confirmed that hey will attend the SuperNews Nigeria SMEs Forum 2024.
The event is scheduled for Thursday, June 13th 2024 at Radisson Hotel, GRA Ikeja, Lagos.
The conference with the theme, “Bringing SMEs into the Financial Services Network via Fintech” will be declared open by the SMEDAN DG, Mr. Charles Odii, while the EVC of NCC will chair the event.
A renowned economist and financial expert, Dr. Biodun Adedipe, the MD/CEO Biodun Adedipe & Associate Ltd., will deliver the keynote speech at the conference, which would dig into issues faced by SMEs in running their day-to-day businesses in Nigeria.
The conference will also feature a panel session which would be handled by erudite scholars, including the Chairman, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Yeye Modupe Dada; Managing Director/CEO, Sunu Assurances Plc, Mr. Sam Ogbodu, Managing Director/CEO of APT Securities and Funds Limited, Mr. Kasimu Garba Kurfi and Head, Financial Institutions Ratings at Agusto & Co., Mr. Ayokunle Olubunmi.
READ ALSO: Troops neutralise seven insurgents, recover weapons, motorcycles
The Special Guests of Honour for the conference include the Director General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii; Acting Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama and the Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Olusegun Ayo Omosehin.
The publisher of SuperNews Nigeria, Ngozi Onyeakusi, in a statement in Lagos said the choice of the theme of the conference was borne out of the quest to improve the business climate for SMEs in Nigeria by leveraging technology in terms of accessing financial services.
She said it was unfortunate that SMEs that formed the bedrock of every economy were plagued by a lot of challenges, especially inadequate access to finance.
She said reports had shown that the challenge of SMEs in accessing funds could be traced to inadequate access to financial institutions and education, skills, experience of owners/managers, high interest rates, gender discrimination, among others.
It therefore became imperative to leverage technology to ensure their sustainability, productivity and profitability.
The conference, she said, would, among others, examine the key challenges faced by SMEs in Nigeria and provide practical solutions to help overcome them.
She said it would equally explore the benefits of fintech for small businesses, including how it could help them overcome financial challenges and drive growth through technology-driven solutions.
She equally emphasised that the confab was a learning opportunity designed to enhance awareness, deepen understanding of the participants on how SMEs could grow and sustain their businesses by embracing various financial services options including banking, capital market, pension and insurance.
