Future project, Microsoft empower SMEs to boost economy

The Future Project in partnership with Microsoft Nigeria has empowered over 54 Nigerians in Small and Medium Scale Business Engines (SMEs) to boost the economy.

The event, which held in Lagos, featured young entrepreneurs, who exhibited their products for purchase and pitched ideas for possible investment.

Speaking at the final series of its Demo days across the country through its Accelerate Labs initiative, the Project Lead, Bukola Adebakin, urged the government to create policies that would enable SMEs thrive in Nigeria.

According to her, in most developing economies of the world, SMEs have been identified as the engine of growth of the economy, contributing towards employment and poverty eradication.

She said: “Through intensive trainings, we engaged over 8,000 participants across the country on the methods to build and sustain their businesses, with focus on pitch presentation, funding proposals, client relations, and others.

“With the success of the graduates in the first stream and focused assessments of participants in the second and third streams, the participants are capable of impacting the country through socially inclined, high profit, and highly competitive enterprises.”

Founder SME100, Charles Odii, said entrepreneurship is the only channel in which Nigerians can overcome the challenges of poverty.