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SME operators need better business management orientation
THE level of progress in the activities of SME business activities in
the country has been attributed to lack of proper orientation on how to
run the businesses. This was revealed by Mr. Felix Amadi, Managing
Director, Nobel and Lesley Consulting, an SME consulting firm, while
pointing out the lapses of successful business management among the
small and medium entrepreneurs in the country.
Amadi told National Daily that most of the SMEs bankrupt because their
operators lack the right approach towards managing their business. He
said that the government needs to do more in bringing these operators
into limelight on what should be done and on what should not be done for
their business to thrive and retain its attained height of success and
elevation.
According to him, “The reason why many SMEs operators fail in their
businesses in Nigeria today is because most of them lack the right
approach towards business management. You see, the government has a
prominent role to play in fostering the growth of the SMEs in the
country by giving them enlightenment through some form of orientation
programmes. What many SMEs business operators think it takes to manage a
business is qui9te different from what they are expected to know.”
Responding to the issue of unavailability of adequate funds to the SMEs
as assured by the Central Bank of Nigeria through the 25 mega banks, the
SME consultant said that most of these operators lack the knowledge of
what it takes for a bank to release funds to them. He said many of them
do not even have a good feasibility study of the kind of business they
intent to venture into for which purpose they request for the bank
loans.
In his statement, “Today, you may hear SMEs operators complaining about
some strict policies and burdensome requirements of the banks as a
criteria for the release of funds, but the fact remains that the banks
are also not ready to just begin to doll out cash to ventures that are
not resourceful and profit oriented enough to yield interest and
accomplish the purpose for which the fund is released.”
He urged stakeholders in the SMEs sector to take cognizance of the
necessities involved in having access to bank loans to fund their
commercial projects. He however called on the Federal government to
create an avenue for this category of citizens to acquire more knowledge
about what it takes to manage their businesses, considering the fact
that some of them are ignorant about business management strategies.
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