By Gilbert Kiaka
Whether you plan to start a new business, expand a current business, or invest in the stock market, you’ll probably need to raise some capital. This capital helps an entrepreneur fund business growth or make a personal financial decision that typically involves a large sum. Therefore, capital is the life wire of any business venture, and the inability to access capital is the bane of business development and expansion.
Access to capital would undoubtedly encourage unemployed Nigerians to venture into entrepreneurship and discourage brain drain. Deepening access to capital would boost the over 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria, which employ over 80 percent of the country’s population and contribute about 50 percent of the country’s GDP.
To demonstrate the commitment of this administration to provide capital for businesses, the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has said the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is aimed at improving Nigeria’s business and fiscal environment and increasing foreign exchange supply. According to him, this is evident in establishing a Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee to reform the tax system and reduce the tax burden and complications on Nigerians by providing an access-to-credit programme for start-ups and MSMEs, N50 billion in Conditional Grants to one million Nano-businesses across Nigeria between now and March 2024, and a new single-digit interest-rate Fund to provide N75 billion to support manufacturing enterprises, among others.
Therefore, the availability of capital would solve the problems and difficulties MSMEs face in getting access to finance to develop ideas that would engender wealth creation.
On her part, the Honourable Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, has promised to draw more investments into the country and demonstrate a solid resolve to facilitate a business-friendly environment that nurtures the growth of local businesses. She revealed this immediately after her inauguration on 21st August 2023.
She said, “Our work here is to create more jobs and employment, lift people out of the poverty line so that small, micro, and medium businesses can grow, ensure that existing industries profit better, expand, and grow better.”
On a similar note, the Managing Director of the oldest and most significant development bank in Nigeria, the Bank of Industry, Dr. Olasupo Olusi, pointed out that the bank’s strategy is to accelerate Nigeria’s development through supporting environmentally friendly and sustainable projects across the key sectors of the economy. The MD disclosed this on November 9th during the joint international Chief Executive Officer (CEO) forum of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP).
He stated that BOI has worked with partners to raise over $5 billion from several international financial institutions in the last five years. He said, “We intend to leverage our extensive partnership to raise the resources required for building a climate-smart Nigeria, in line with our President’s vision.”
To further bring the president’s dreams of creating a financially friendly environment, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) hosted representatives from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank to discuss strategies for mobilising private capital and fostering investment in Nigeria. The meeting, held at the Commission’s Head Office, focused on identifying potential investment opportunities, addressing challenges faced by investors, and exploring areas for collaboration with both organisations.
NIPC’s Chief Executive, Ms. Aisha Rimi, and her team provided an overview of Nigeria’s investment landscape, highlighting Nigeria’s abundant natural resources, young population, and strategic location as a gateway to Africa. They also emphasised the government’s commitment to improving the business environment and creating an enabling environment for investment.
The discussion focused on specific sectors identified for investment, including agribusiness, manufacturing, infrastructure development, mining, health, and education. The NIPC outlined its efforts to support these sectors through various initiatives, such as the One-Stop Investment Centre, while assuring that investors can benefit from support structures provided by the Commission.
On a similar note, to ensure that no one is left behind in the president’s RENEWED HOPE AGENDA, the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, has swung into action by commencing the disbursement of N20,000 conditional cash transfer to 15 million households out of which 10 percent is reserved for the disabled community.
The Honourable Minister said, “Remember that we are doing Conditional Cash Transfers for 15 million households, and 10 percent is reserved for the disability community. So, we are happy and very proud of the disability commission for pushing on all fronts to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda is achieved.”
Edu added that the Federal Government was also providing point-of-sale (POS) machines to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) as a means of empowerment. So far, the Minister has started providing POS machines to persons with disability across all the senatorial districts in Nigeria so that they can be the last-mile distributors of these funds to people living in villages and hard-to-reach areas.
She said the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation has also provided the POS machines and the N100,000 capital for them to start up and that N130,000 scholarship has already been given to physically challenged students in tertiary institutions. The Minister revealed this during the launch of the empowerment of people living with disabilities.
Access to capital as an agenda in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 8-point agenda, no doubt, has started yielding results and, when fully implemented, would alleviate extreme poverty and improve the living conditions of Nigerians.
Kiaka writes from Abuja