Group energises leather, garments sector in Abia

Indications have emerged that the quality and quantity of leather and garments produced at Aba in Abia State will greatly improve. 

This was disclosed by a member of the Aba Leather/Garments entrepreneurs, Mr. Obioma Daniel, who spoke to The Guardian yesterday on behalf of the 170 Micro, Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (MSME) recently trained in leather and garments enterprises by the German Development Corporation (GIZ) under the Nigeria Competitive Project (NICOP). 

Daniel, who said that having been trained, issued certificates and given access to soft loan, the entrepreneurs have received the wherewithal to boost their businesses. 

The GIZ Access – to – Finance Advisor, Mr. Yakubu Paiko, said the entrepreneurs were trained to master skills in leather and garments enterprises management to qualify them to access finance from the FGN Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Survival Support Fund through Nirsal Microfinance Bank (NMFB) to cushion the impact of COVID-19. 

During the training, a facilitator, Mr. Andrew Igili, educated them on the critical and emerging challenges for MSMEs within the leather sector with emphasis on issues that can be addressed with support from NICOP and NILEST.

NICOP is a four- year project commissioned by the German BMZ and co-funded by the European Union under the West African Competitiveness envelop. It is being implemented by the GIZ Pro-poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria Programme.