Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has blamed the non-formalisation of micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for their inability to access capital from government agencies.

The Director-General of the agency, Charles Odii, who stated this in Abuja yesterday at the launch of Glovo Academy, said SMEDAN is working with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to offer free registration to 250,000 MSMEs to aid their formalisation process.

SMEDAN said that it provided nationwide training, digital e-learning platforms, and free CAC registration for 250,000 MSMEs to improve access to funding.

Represented by the head of ICT at SMEDAN, Kayode Meyanbe, Odii disclosed that the organisation is also training MAMEs on packaging to enhance their products.

He added: “We have an agreement with CAC to register MSMEs outfits free of charge. This is a significant step towards formalising them. Most of the facilities that have low or no interest at all require some level of formalisation before anyone can assess them.

“We believe that will help boost the capacity of the small and medium-scale businesses in Nigeria. Another area we are working very hard on is packaging. We realise that some businesses have good products but lack the knowledge to package them. We believe that with good packaging, many MAMEs will do well in the market.”

The SMEDAN boss also identified a lack of business intelligence as a major stumbling block to the progress of MSMEs, saying: “We see many people going into a business that a neighbour is doing without carrying out due diligence. They do not embark on intelligence gathering before going into businesses. Their only intelligence is that a neighbour or a family member is doing well in the business without asking why the business is succeeding.

The discussion at the launch focused on the challenges and opportunities for MSMEs in Nigeria.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, was represented by her Senior Special Adviser, Ifeoma Williams.