By Temitope Adebayo
The Lagos State government has disbursed about N25 billion in grants and loans to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), to enhance productivity and economic growth in the state.
The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu disclosed this recently at the 2024 Business Day Newspaper CEO Forum, with the theme: “Governors in Conversation – Innovative Governance: Steering States through Economic Turbulence”, held at the Balmoral Hall, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, revealed that the grants and loans have helped to empower entrepreneurs to flourish in doing their businesses and stimulating the economy.
According to Sanwo-Olu, “The LSETF over the past six years has given out close to 25 billion naira in terms of grants and assisting people with loans. In this case, single-digit loans were offered to them to sustain and train them on how to manage their businesses”.
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Sanwo-Olu added that the state government also helped them to source products, have access to the market, and help them interact with NAFDAC, BOI, CAC, and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) among other agencies in order to understand how to run their businesses within the framework of the laws.
“It is for us to create those types of environments that allow private people to run their businesses and create jobs for the future”, the Governor stated.
He added that such initiatives are what the state government usually embarked upon to ensure that businesses within the state increase, noting that his administration aimed to enhance the Nano SMEs and provide access to grants and loans for their businesses to continue to thrive and succeed.
Sanwo-Olu stated further that his administration is committed to the ease of doing business, enhancing businesses, and helping the citizens to grow. “These are the goals of our administration as embedded in the T.H.E.M.E.S Plus developmental agenda with the M representing Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy”, said the Governor.
He highlighted some of his administration’s initiatives to create an enabling environment for business development including Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Employment (KITE), a hub that houses younger people who don’t have funds to rent an office or shop to operate. He also listed LASRIC, for Fintech and other technology-driven businesses as well as Lagos Financial Centre which creates a zone for financial services, among other initiatives.
He also informed that his government is creating the largest food hub in Imota, which will allow the state to aggregate what comes into Lagos and also aid proper food storage and food security, emphasising that all the initiatives encourage young individuals to bring forth creative ideas that help them to develop them into reality through the needed support.
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