LCCI promotes capacity building for SMEs

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it is committed to capacity building for Small and Medium Enterprises in the country.

The chamber said this informed its decision to select 50 young entrepreneurs to take part in the LCCI Industry Mentoring programme for 2015.

According to LCCI, 25 young entrepreneurs participated in the programme last year.

The group stated that the increase in the number of young entrepreneurs selected for the training this year was made possible by Accenture, the consultancy firm which funded the programme as part of its social responsibility initiative tagged ‘skills to succeed’.

In her keynote address during the opening ceremony of the programme, the Chairman, Board of Business Education Services and Training, LCCI, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, said the body was preparing young entrepreneurs for the business world through six months of personal development and business management training.

She stated this at the inauguration of this year’s LCCI Industry Mentoring programme on Friday.

She said, “We are preparing them for the business world, thereby enabling them to ride on the waves and challenges in the environment in their quest for success.”

She added that one of the unit’s partners in the 2014 programme, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy had a programme known as ‘Youth Trade’ which addresses access to markets for the goods and services of young entrepreneurs.

The President, LCCI, Mr. Remi Bello, restated the group’s commitment to building capacity through entrepreneurship mentoring, noting that it was a means of investing in the future of youths.

He said, “Mentoring is an informal method of education which enables high impact and quick connections to be made across enterprises. These connections transcend location, vocation and generations, enabling individuals to brainstorm, innovate, create and develop breakthrough ideas on how to improve their business processes as well as solve problems facing their businesses.

“For us at the LCCI, focusing this developmental initiative on the youth is a means of investing in their future thereby guaranteeing better tomorrow for our country.”

On his part, the Director-General, LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, stressed the need for young people to embrace enterprise, noting that the only way to create jobs, redistribute income and make lives better was to promote enterprise.

He said, “This economy is a very big economy, you have a population of 170 million people. That is a very big market. So there is a whole lot that can be done in the enterprise space to take advantage of this economy.”

He added that a lot of people sought to come to Nigeria from China, Malaysia and other countries to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that the Nigerian economy offers as the largest economy in the continent.

“What that tells you is that there are a lot of opportunities. What we are doing today is part of the process of encouraging you to take advantage of the opportunities that this economy presents,” he said.