According to Olukayode Pitan, managing director and chief executive officer of Bank of Industry, small and medium-sized businesses make up the bulk of commercial organizations worldwide.
He claimed that they were boosting innovation, exports, and production output, all of which were hallmarks of economic growth in most economies and contributed between 40% and 45% of GDP and 50% to 80% of employment in most of them, according to the World Bank.
According to a statement, Pitan spoke during the Rotary Club of Lagos’ usual weekly meeting.
According to him, SMEs have a lot of potential to create jobs, advance local technologies, diversify the economy, foster homegrown entrepreneurship, and increase wealth.
“In Nigeria today, we have 39.7 million MSMEs, contributing 46.3 per cent to national GDP, accounting for 96.7 per cent of businesses, 87.9 per cent of employment, 6.2 per cent to exports,” he said.
He noted that with a rapidly rising population that was predicted to increase from 200 million today to 410 million in 2050, an opportunity existed for Nigerian SMEs to deliver services, jobs, innovation and economic growth to fulfill the country’s growing requirements.
The head of BOI observed that the majority of SMEs continued to confront difficulties that limited their capacity to thrive, compete, and prosper despite these prospects being present and their vital significance in national economic development.
