Empowerment of SMEs to broaden local food processing underway

The Managing Director, Spectra Industries Limited, Mr. Duro Kuteyi, has unfolded the plans of his company to embark on training of other Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in food processing to broaden local food processing and manufacturing in Nigeria.

This, he said, would help address the problem of post-harvest losses and make seasonal crops available all year round.

Kuteyi, who disclosed this on the occasion of his 70th birthday in Lagos, therefore, called on the government at all levels to partner with his company to use food processing in resolving one of the major problems of the country, which is unemployment, as well as resolve the issue of food insecurity. 

“In actual fact, insecurity and banditry have reached the level we are now because there are many idle hands who if gainfully engaged will not be interested in touting or engaging in banditry. As the good book says that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” Kuteyi said.

Kuteyi who started with the frying of plantain chips, currently has variety of products such as Suco Cocoa Powder, Spectra (Pure Natural) Cocoa, Hyfiba, Fast O Meal, and Sobake, some of which are being exported.

He called on the Federal Government to come up with a policy that will help SMEs overcome financing challenges, saying no nation develops without paying adequate attention to SMEs.

Kuteyi decried the harsh business environment of Nigeria where SME operators are virtually left unprotected by government, exposed to unfair competition from multinationals, frustrated by harsh financing terms by banks, as well as multiple layers of tax and other sundry charges by various agencies of government.

While presenting a lecture on “Funding Models for SMEs in Nigeria,” The Acting Director General, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Wale Fasanya, advised aspiring entrepreneurs not to wait until there is a huge capital, but should instead take the bold step of starting small while keeping their eyes on the ball.

Though Fasanya admitted that funding is one of the most critical challenges of SMEs, he however, reiterated the commitment of SMEDAN to genuine SMEs who have exceptional business ideas with potential to strive.

“In SMEDAN, we will continue to push for the development of viable and sustainable funding models for MSME. This can only happen with strong partnership and alliance between government, donors and private sector,” Fasanya said.

He, however, noted that good entrepreneurs should not wait for external funding before pursuing their entrepreneurial initiatives, stressing that the likes of Kuteyi, who started by just putting a pot on a burner to fry plantain chip has ended up having a world-class factory producing globally competitive brands that are today commanding both local and international patronage.