Peter Osalor FCCA, CTA, Founder and President of Success in Your Busines.

China’s explosive economic growth over the past 25 years is largely due to removing ownership, bureaucratic, and financial limits on the entrepreneurial drive of the Chinese people. At the heart of other rapidly growing economies such as India and Brazil are numerous small and medium scale manufacturing, retail, IT, technical, and financial firms.

In the United States, the world’s biggest and most sophisticated economy, more than 60% of new jobs are created by small businesses. The US government recognizes that “small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength, to building America’s future, and to helping the United States compete in today’s global marketplace.”

Small and medium enterprises – run according to the visions, talents, opportunities and resources of entrepreneurs – are known to bring about employment creation, provide jobs for women and youth, spread the returns of economic development, help develop rural areas, mobilize domestic savings for investment, inculcate new skills and infuse new technology, and contribute to social and political stability.

In Nigeria

shaping our future beyond oil is a critical part of our national agenda. Our current economy is dominated by the oil industry which contributes over 80% of export earnings, and 50% of GDP. We also have  a labor force of 46 million growing by 2.5% a year, an unemployment rate of 6% and growing, with many more millions of workers underemployed, the largest domestic market in Africa, a wide range of natural resources, and a diversely skilled labor pool. Given these economic realities, we have a clear need to constantly create new jobs, and diversify our industrial and commercial sectors.

Microsmall and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

most of whom are located in the “informal” sector, provide a wide range of retail and service products for Nigeria’s economy. Most MSMEs are small, sole proprietor or family businesses, largely “subsistence” in nature, that market their goods and services to urban and rural consumers. This is necessity entrepreneurship. There are also the “vibrant” larger scale entrepreneurial enterprises, employing non-family workers and constantly seeking opportunities to expand their operations. MSMEs provide the basis of economic survival for a major part of Nigeria’s population. As Nigeria pursues the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and Vision2020, a core part of our national strategy must be to grow and strengthen the vibrant elements of the MSME, largely informal, business sector. As a nation we must – we cannot afford not to – invest in MSMEs. Our economic future depends on it.

 Putting into practice

Putting into practice my vision for entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, I have established Success in Your Business a UK registered charity committed to eradicate poverty by empowering citizens with the right skills, and through the development of an entrepreneurial spirit. I believe that the present economic problems and restiveness in Nigeria can be significantly addressed by growing the numbers and strengthening the capabilities of local entrepreneurs who pursue the business opportunities available in our country. This entrepreneurial development will create self-employment and grow the labor market helping to alleviate poverty and social unrest.  For example, there is a strong potential for developing new niche markets of the 21^st century – green, organic, fair trade, our overseas communities. In order to widen private-sector employment opportunities, we must improve the access of rural and low income women and youth to business development resources; improve the abilities of entrepreneurs to manage their businesses and market their goods and services; grow agriculture-based rural businesses pursuing opportunities for value-added processing, and expand government assistance programs for MSMEs. We can do this in the form of public-private initiatives offering business training and support services, including:

• Entrepreneurial Training
• Accountancy and IT training.
• Business Startup and Development
• Agro-Business Development
• Microfinancing and Small Business Loans
• Marketing Support
• Export Promotion Support
• Produce storage facilities development

Benefits of these entrepreneurship initiatives will include

• Encouraging and supporting women and young entrepreneurs
• Increased provision of government services to and regulation of the informal business sector
• Growing rural economic infrastructure and opportunities
• Grant fund buy-ins from national and international development agencies and NGOs committed to poverty alleviation, youth’s empowerment, private sector business development, fair trade, etc.
• Enhancing the quality and competitiveness of Nigerian businesses
• Increased capacity to adopt new business technologies
• Strengthening the organizational and business linkages between the formal and informal sectors
• Creating and enhancing economic opportunities for school leavers and university and college graduates.