Hajia Rekiya Onaivo Sani,MD/CEO,KEDA explaining achievements of the agency to Journalists during breakfast chat in Lokoja.
By Dada Ahmed.
Pieces of empirical evidence have shown that operators of Small and Medium Enterprises,SMEs, in Nigeria have living in the world of irony for years despite their Importance as game changers in the economic development of the the country.
For instance, while it takes the rich to buy some consumable items in super markets some distance from the comfort of their homes,the poor who are the majority in social stratification of the society, can easily do that within the neighborhood markets or road side sellers of bread, oranges pepper and so on and relative cheaper prices.
Economic analysts estimate that whereas, SMEs constitute 75 per cent of the economic activities of most societies, yet not much has been done by various governments to boost this realm of this small scale businesses to make them viable enterprises as it were.
However, the narrative began to change few years back as many state governments in the federation now beam their search light on SMEs with a view to enhancing the capacity of their operators to ensure that they contribute, substantially to economic development of the country.
This scenario played out two years ago when Kogi State Governnent established Kogi State Enterprise Agency, KEDA to look into the activities of Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs and breath life into them to reawake peoples’ conscieness in their Importance, through various initiatives for better results.
Therefore, kogites believe that the emergence of KEDA is not an idea that emanated from the realm of utopian expression but a child of necessity to bail out the state of enterprenuerial and quagmire with the attendant low ebb in SME activities and let SME activities take front burner in the socio-economic development of the state.
Descerning minds such as Mohammed Kabir,a social commentator who has been monitoring the business climate of the state with keen interest reinforced this belief when he describes the birth of KEDA “as a right thing in the right direction”.
He says the agency will rectify anomalies impeding the desired growth and development of SMEs in the state, given the seriousness of its management.
KEDA came into being in as an agency under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry established under law to facilitate and enhance recovery of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kogi state.
To mark the second year of this young but viable outfit, its management recently invited some Journalists in Lokoja to a breakfast chat.
The essence of the brief interactive session, according to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer,Hajia Rekiya Onaivo Sani,was to” show case” what KEDA has achieved within two years of its establishment.
Hajia Sani did not only treat members of the fourth estate of the realm to breakfast, she also chatted with them on the efforts her management and staff to lay a solid foundation for the attainment of the desired heights in the execution of its core mandates- recoverying SMEs.
Starting the occasion on a humble note, Hajia Sani,a graduate of Magnitogorsk State University,CIS,Russian with master’s degree in Economics(Accounting and Finance), who is a social enterprenuer, said that the journey of KEDA kicked-off from the scratch and will just management members of staff.
“We quickly settle down to think on how to get things done. Our mission is how to foster business growth.
“By the time the governor discovered that we are serious and passionate about our work,he started giving us support and today we thank God for what we have achieved within two years.”
She was, however, quick to accept that KEDA might not have achieved much for now, but she assured Kogites that “we are coming up with a lot of programmes that will be tailor-made.”
The woman on the saddle of KEDA leadership also told Journalists that she and her team had visited Abuja Enterprise Development Agency, Bank of Industry,Bank of Agriculture to establish and learn what kind of business such establishments must have done with kogi state government in the past concerning SMEs.
The essence of the exercise, she added, was how experiences her team gathered from the such establishments could be added as a value into fulfilling the mission and vision of the agency for effective recovering of the spirit of SMEs in the state for better results.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, further told her guests that the agency had so far registered and sensitised 50,000 persons in the state on the need for them to maximize the advantages and potential inherent in SMEs.
She also informed members of the press that she and management embarked on various sensitisation, enlightenment programmes to reawake the conscieness and interest of small scale farmers and related business interests on the need for them to key into SME activities within the period under review.
This, Hajia Sani saidwas done to bring to bear a conducive and seamless climate on the group of business men and women for mutual benefit and to know the agency’s level of intervention to make the aims and objectives of recovering SMEs fulfilled.
According to her, KEDA has also formed small business community and cooperatives into clusters for shared responsibility, a development she described as very crucial to the attainment of growth and development of SMEs in any society, kogi state inclusive.
She said her team also visited a lot of associations, such as barbing saloons, many artisans among others and organised trainings and workshops for them on SME, coupled with establishing SME clinics and start ups for others to boost the business climate in the state.
“KEDA also embarked on creating awareness by setting up platforms through which enterprising business owners can show case their products to buyers and make profit,” she told the Journalists.
The MD/CEO also disclosed that her team traveled to Abuja Enterprise Development Agency and similar institutions in Lagos,and Bauchi among others, with view to learning from their experiences and blend them into the programmes of the agency.
According to her, the agency has prioritised women and members of the the People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) in its programmes, particularly empowerment programmes, to ensure gender equality and entrench a sense of belonging in the scheme of things in the agency.
The break fast session was just a prelude to greater event planned for the day as all road led to the Government House, Lokoja, where KEDA management launched Kogi Orange-Fleshed Sweet-Potatoes initiative.
The initiative,piloted by KEDA,was flagged off by the Governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaha Bello, ably represented by the Secretary to the State Governnent (SSG),Dr Afolashade Arike Ayo-Ade.
At the occasion,the governor showered encomium on Hajia Sani and her “Team KEDA” for hatching the idea and called on Kogites to key into the implementation of the project, assuring them that they stand to gain tremendously from its advantage.
Bello expressed optimism that the success of the project would lead to wealth creation for individuals, ensure greater nutritional value for the people and ginger economic prosperity for the state at large.
“Let’s set a new record to ensure that this project becomes a success story.Let’s think big while starting small in this project”Bello urged the stakeholders.
Contributing,the Commissioner for Agriculture,Mr David Ape,who also praised KEDA for the initiative said the state has adequate and suitable land to cultivate orange-fleshed sweet potato.
He said that his ministry would cooperate and work out template with KEDA for the successful implementation of the project to ensure greater success.
The commissioner noted that over the years, there had been underplay of the importance of planting sweet potato in the state, stressing that time has come for farmers to take advantage of the project to develop interest in the cultivation of potato.
Ape, therefore, called on farmers to key into the project by forming themselves into cooperative societies to attract governnent attention for their needs in an effort to make the cultivation of the crop work for maximum benefit.
According to cipotato.org,Orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) is a special type of biofortified sweetpotato that contains high levels of beta-carotene, adding that it is an organic, red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits.
“Beta-carotene is what gives OFSP an orange color and is converted to Vitamin A in the body after consumption to provide additional nutritional benefits.
“Biofortification enhances the nutritional value of staple food crops by increasing the density of vitamins and minerals in a crop through either conventional plant breeding, agronomic practices or biotechnology.
“Examples of these vitamins and minerals that can be increased through biofortification include provitamin A Carotenoids, zinc and iron,”cipotato.org further explains.
Orange-fleshed sweet potato.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive,KEDA, Hajia Rekiya Onaivo Sani,expressed the commitment of the agency to ensure the realisation of the project, promising that 70 per cent of women would be involved in its implementation.
She noted that planting orange-fleshed sweet potato did not not require much energy, adding that women can fit well in such less energy sapping work.
Some members of the public keeping eyes on the activities of KEDA argued that though a critical assessment of the success of the agency at this stage is inadequate, nonetheless, its had demonstrated adequate capacity to ensure that SMEs take their pride of place in the economic development of the state.
“Kogi state government has done well by establishing KEDA with capable hands to manage its operations.
“However, I believe that there are still more rivers for the agency to cross for it to make the desired meaningful impact in the economic and social life of the people in the state, particularly the small scale business operators.
“The agency needs to do more in terms of publicity in sensiting the general public,on its activities and making sure that more people imbibe the culture of SMEs to raise the level of performance of SMEs operators in this state.
“This is because experience has shown that big economies of the world evolved from small scale businesses.
” This is possible in kogi state, because it was made possible elsewhere in other parts of the states of the federation and the world at large,” a financial experts,Mahmud Mustapha said.
Others emphasised the Importance of factoring the traditional institution into sensitisation and enlightenment programmes of the agency to let the population at the grassroots understand and appreciate its activities.
“Members of the traditional institution are command enormous influence among the people. KEDA can elicit their cooperation, through time to time interaction with the royal fathers and community leaders to impress on their followers the need to key into SME prgrammes.
“When this is done and done effectively, there will be a boost in SME activities which will lead to emergence of economic prosperity and in turn reduce insecurity.
“When insecurity is reduced to tolerable degree, there will be peace and much development in kogi state,” Haruna Mohammed,a Lokoja based building contractor urged KEDA.
Some others expressed optimism that with Hajia Sani, who has core competences in proposal development and programming, human resources and talent management, business planning and development, on the saddle of KEDA’s leadership with her able team in active support, the agency will achieve its aims and objectives.
They, however urged unrelenting commitment from KEDA management in their avowed efforts to bequeath to the state,an organization kogites can be proud of interms of recovered,seamless, viable and rewarding SMEs in the state in the nearest future.
Dada Ahmed,a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), publishes The Reporters,an online publication.
