First Bank Tasks SMEs On Capacity Building

First Bank of Nigeria Ltd on Thursday tasked Small and Medium Enterprises  (SMEs) operating in the country on capacity building for them to remain relevant and competitive in the future.

Mrs. Olufunke Smith, the bank’s Group Head, Retail Banking, Lagos Island 1, stated this at the FirstBank SMEConnect Business Clinic in Lagos.

The Clinic had as its theme: ‘Positioning your business to thrive in 2020.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Business Clinic was in partnership with Traction Venture Partners.

Smith said for SMEs to survive, they must position themselves as a learning business by continually expanding their capacity to exist and be competitive in the future.

“Today, the advancement of technology has made it possible for an entrepreneur to start a business with just an idea and a mobile phone.

“A small business may not need a physical structure or many staff to be successful.

“Most job roles have been taken over by applications that can run unaided once the right data is inputted.

“Therefore, for SMEs to survive today, they must position themselves as a learning business by continually expanding their capacity,” she said.

Smith said that the bank would be holding several Business Clinics, workshops and seminars across the country in 2020 to strengthen SMEs growth and development.

On the reasons for FirstBank’s commitment to SMEs, she said that SMEs are the bedrock of any nation.

“SMEs is the bedrock of any nation; you have to ensure that SMEs can grow. It’s when you have SMEs that are functional that the nation too can grow.

Mr. Dalapo Adejuyigbe, the Managing Partner, Traction Venture Partners, said that the company focused on enabling the SMEs ecosystem in emerging markets to succeed.

Adejuyigbe said that the company’s major focus right now was Nigeria, stressing the need for sound SMEs for desired economic growth and development.

He said that TractionVenture Partners was creating a digitally-enabled adviser for SMEs, for them to make the needed impact in the country.

He said that the company had democratized its different services by making them affordable and accessible to SMEs.

The managing partner said that the company engages SMEs in two forms, either through SME partners (banks or telcos ) or work directly with SMEs.

Adejuyigbe said that FirstBank had been its core client in achieving its goal in helping SMEs in Nigeria.

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