Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State will on Tuesday (tomorrow) play host to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who will be visiting Enugu for the 19th edition of the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Clinic, billed to hold at the Michael Okpara Square, Enugu.
The National MSME Clinic is a brain-child of the Vice President’s Office in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Commerce, and other federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) responsible for business facilitation. It is aimed at providing solutions to various challenges affecting the growth and development of MSMEs, which account for 99 percent of businesses in the country, in order to accelerate their ease of doing businesses with the Federal Government’s regulatory agencies.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the Enugu State Governor on SME and Investment Promotion, Mr. Anayo Agu, the state is ready and anxiously waiting to receive the Vice President for the “all-important event”, which he said was germane to the efforts of the state government in promoting entrepreneurship, self-reliance, human capital empowerment and investment development, among others.
Mr. Agu disclosed that the Enugu edition of the programme also “offers Enugu State Government the opportunity to underscore the progress recorded in entrepreneurship and MSME development through the Enugu SME Center; the state’s Ease of Doing Business Council; the state’s Traders Empowerment Programme; state’s partnership programmes with the federal government on social investments.
These programmes, according to him, include, the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) known as Market Moni, the school feeding programme, N-Power and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) aimed at lifting targeted families out of extreme poverty.
The Special Adviser disclosed that “Enugu State is one of very few states in Nigeria where residents have equal access to all the state’s MSME programmes including funding, regardless of state of origin, religion, ethnicity or political interests”.
He explained that the state government’s collaboration with the federal government and other stakeholders was borne out of the noble vision to assist them have a better understanding of local business needs as well as appreciate some peculiar challenges facing MSMEs in their respective business ecosystems, stressing that “Gov. Ugwuanyi is committed to the partnership and successful hosting of the event in Enugu”.
