Small Businesses in Lagos have been urged to leverage the digital space to allow for a more prosperous venture towards becoming globally competitive.
Businesses owners in the State were charged on the heels of sensitisation on the E-Naira and Digital Economy as part of efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to incorporate Small Businesses into the system.
Orah Chijioke from the Information Technology Department of the CBN said the sensitisation is to educate market women and artisans on the need to go digital with the E-Naira in transacting their daily businesses.
While allaying the fears of business owners on the security of the E-Naira platform, Chijioke said that the App is not only secured, but fast, and is a direct liability from the CBN, stating there are a lot of benefits of using the platform apart from the fact that transactions on it are free.
Chief Executive Officer of Jordan 105.5 FM Lagos, Lanre Johnson, partner with the CBN on the sensitisation of E-Naira and Digital Economy for Small Businesses, in an awareness platform organised by the station in partnership with the CBN in Lagos said the Wallet is most secured platform for them to transact their businesses.
“So with this, our businesses will not only make sales, rather they will scale up, be sustainable and become competitive in the global space,” he said.
According to Lanre, Jordan FM is collaborating with the CBN to ensure that the E-Naira wallet is widely acceptable across nooks and crannies of the Country.
He said, “We must ensure that we take E-Naira to every merchant in Lagos, because we know the benefit of E-Naira, how it can advance their businesses, how it can turn things around for them, and they can become a global player in the market space, and how they can have other benefits like the five percent discount, and they can have the most secured platform for them to transact their businesses, and we can guarantee those who have participated today that they are here for a new dispensation where they can take their businesses to the next level.
“Most of the issues that are associated with how they receive payments, and how they send money with the issue of network and security, with other benefits like the interest-free benefit and other opportunities that are going to be wired into the wallet, we are here to expose our merchants to it so that they can be the greater beneficiary of what we are doing.”
According to him, “As an entrepreneurship radio station,” the medium seeks “to drive innovations and creativity, so we have a whole lot of programmes we already suggested to the CBN, and guess what, they are very open-minded and they are already working on it.
“The first programme we have introduced into the E-Naira wallet that is under construction and design right now is what is called Digital Transmission Adoptions for Businesses Scalability and Sustainability (DTABSS). It simply means how our small businesses can embrace the digital space and be able to sell their markets, and their products, with the aid of technology, starting from Google My Business (GMB), then taking it to SEO/SEM, taking it to Social Media Management and starting with a basic Website, and to cap it all up, how they can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to man their business big time and take it to the next level.”
He encouraged multinationals to use the E-Naira wallet to give grants, disburse funds and come out with different initiatives that will help small businesses which according to him, as of now, have below seven percent of them operating online.
“The same sector (small businesses) contributes about 80 per cent of the job employment market in Nigeria. So, that is why we are coming out with a programme right now called Local Content Development to see how we can put them on entrepreneurship programme, so that whatever they need in terms of skills, in terms of partnership market linkages, we can make it available for our people in collaborations with our partners like CBN, the Embassies, and all other well-meaning institutions in Nigeria,” he said.
Also, Iyaloja of Orisunbare Mile 12 market, Yeye Precious Modupe Ojo, said that the idea from CBN is a very welcome one, stating it is going to benefit and become favorable to the market women since the world is going digital.
President of Shoe Makers Associations in Lagos, Mr Yisiru Bello while commending Jordan Radio said it is a great initiative from the apex bank while promising that about 90 to 95 per cent of their members in Lagos will key into the E-Naira platform.
He added that government should recognise associations and deal with them directly rather than coming through consultants, saying that the government is losing a whole lot of revenue, as they are ready to pay their tax if the proper channel and process are being put in place.