Small and Medium enterprises SMES have been recognised as the bedrock of a nation’s industrial and technological advancement.
This was one of the conclusions reached by the participants at the just concluded 6th D-8 Business Forum/ Exhibition which took place in Abuja.
The 300 delegates drawn from hosts Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey also in their communique acknowledged that the SME was one effective way of tackling unemployment and alleviating poverty. They commended Nigeria for choosing “Multilateral Collaboration for Wealth Creation Through Development of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)”, as the theme, noting that the theme was very timely as their governments were making efforts to strengthen their growth by refocusing their economic policies towards non-oil exports through the promotion and empowering of SMEs to assume the pivot of economic activity that would create jobs, boost wealth creation and bring about the desired economic growth.
They also acknowledged that on several social and economic grounds, SMEs were of overwhelming importance, not only in the D-8 countries, but also across economic divides, with the following attributes – accounts for upwards of 70 per cent of productive activities in their scale and scope; exhibits high levels of domestic employment; value-added and wealth creation; extensive inter-firm linkages (backward, lateral and forward integration within and/or across borders); a heavy export potential; and prospects of economies of scale.
The participants also identified some of the factors militating against the development of SMEs in D-8 countries as follows: Lack of a clear government policy on SMEs, loans and instruments to grow the sector, bottlenecks in accessing credits, and inadequate funding for Entrepreneurship training amongst others.
However the participants stressed the importance of an evolving SME sector as an indispensable part in the overall development and sectoral growth of D-8 countries.
The participants were also unanimous that when all the above comments and recommendations were addressed, then the stakeholders, could heave a sigh of relief that the SMEs are on the path of fulfilling its national development objectives of creating new jobs, which will in turn result in reduction of the already high level of poverty experienced, as well as create desired wealth in member countries.
“To get this done, governments of the D-8 countries must, with all sincerity, demonstrate the political will and continue to accord priority attention to the issues of capacity building, access to capital, information technology, infrastructural development and improved business operating environment, among others, for SME businesses to thrive”, the communique added.