The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized a seminar on private sector partnerships titled “Fostering the World Bank and SMEs Partnership in Nigeria to Enhance Economic Growth.” Ismail Radwan, Senior Economist of World Bank Africa spoke at the event and disclosed that worldwide small and medium enterprises have been projected to grow as a sector to USD 250 billion from its present size of USD 17 billion within ten years, further adding that the findings reflect a vast untapped market not only for SMEs, but for microfinance institutions as well. He cited that the potential for microfinance in Africa and Nigeria remains largely unexploited.
The seminar suggested that Nigeria’s public sector can play a role in maximizing upon this potential by making a number of adjustments to policies and procedures, which include amending its regulatory framework to facilitate entry into the sectors and investing in supervisory capacity. Further improvements in accessing financial services could also be achieved by embedding customized microfinance instruments into the mainstream financial system, World Bank Africa advised.
Aside from recommendations on microfinance and SME accessibility to private sector participants, one of the initiatives unveiled by the Lagos State government is the Eko Microfinance scheme, a program launched to provide minimal interest credit to artisan entrepreneurs and small businesses within the State of Lagos. The State provides a set number of funds each month to be disbursed by five selected microfinance banks in the form of micro loans to their customers. The scheme has disbursed funds to five thousand clients since being activated in September.
By Yrenilsa Lopez, Research Assistant
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