SHEA-BUTTER EXPORTATION: FCTA PARTNERS DFID, EU ON SMES

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said that its
present leadership is committed to empowering the small scale business
enterprises to boost the Abuja economy.

This was contained in the programme of activities of theAbuja enterprise Agency from May, 2015 to May, 2017, as delivered bythe agency’s Managing Director, Alhaji Sabi Mohammed Tukur, in theevent marking two years score card of the present administration of
the Minister, Malam Mohammed Musa Bello.

The Managing Director, during the interface with the media, noted that,part of its major activities, during these years, is to ensure that efforts of the FCT women and men involved in small scale businesses are appreciated and results to economic buoyancy of the territory.

He remarked that in order to achieve this, the Agency successfully held various projects during the period under review.One-Village-One-Product (OVOP) Initiative, he said ,is a strategy being adopted by the Agency to bring about economic empowerment on a massive
scale by identifying and developing products indigenous to various
communities in the FCT.

Currently, the Agency is working on developing three indigenous products in the FCT including Shea butter and Cassava.The Project is part of the activities of the rural communities
development, as well as improving on the One Village One Product Shea Butter Project, in the villages of Rimba and Nuku all in Abaji area council of the FCT.

It was revealed that the Shea butter project is designed to improve the quality Shea
Butter through better productions process and capacity- building in the
FCT, thereby increasing revenue of the producers.The project has impacted 106 women through training, Sales on platforms such as kaymus, Olx and market linkage.

It is currently undergoing upscaling by the provision of Shea nuts storage
facility and Provision of large capacity- processing equipment. On the Cassava Project, Chikuku community in Kwali area council, the

Managing Director, noted that the project is designed to build the cassava value chain in the FCT.The project has provided 100 farmers entrepreneurial training and counseling, linkage to improved cassava seedling thereby increasing their yields.

The Agency successfully set up a 24 ton Garri Processing Centre. This has led to the
creation of jobs to over 100 people and increased incomefor the community of Chikuku.

The Fish Production and Processing Project, Guito, Bwari Area Council, the Agency said,
has trained the beneficiaries of the project on Fish farming and Entrepreneurship. The Centre is said to have an installed capacity to process 12 tons of fish.

He further stressed that the Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) is the FCT’s vehicle for enterprise development, wealth creation, employment generation poverty eradication and value reorientation.The Agency’s mandate, he remarked, focuses on the development of micro,small and medium enterprises within the

FCT and aims to assist new and existing entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles to growth through access to finance, proper business planning, development of entrepreneurship skills, facilitation of suitable workplace.

The Agency delivers a range of business development services to achieve its objectives.
The services include Business Advisory,capacity building training, business promotions, access to finance,Consultancy and other critical services to businesses in the FCT.

The Abuja enterprise Agency has a Business Advisory Unit, a one- on -one counseling session
that is designed to identify areas of opportunities and challenges  the MSMSEs are facing. During the 2 years period, the Agency provided business advisory Services to a total of

882 start-ups and existing businesses in the FCT, with areas where business has directly
impacted on the people.In Capacity Building Training, the Agency provided capacity building
trainings in various areas such as Skills Acquisition, Agricultural.

Training, Cooperative Management, Business Management, Website Design,Graphics Design, Skills Acquisition, Financial Management,Bookkeeping, Business Plan Writing and Export amongst others. The Agency trained a total of 1,870 business owners during the period

under review.Rural Community Development, it was revealed that one of the Agency
strategies towards accelerating enterprise development in communities in the FCT is through the provision of business development services.Such services include Outreach Advisory Services, Cooperative Management Trainings, One Village One Product, Access to Finance to

facilitate Financial Inclusion and other services. The Agency during the period under review has provided Business Development Services to 1, 564 rural entrepreneurs. Similarly, the FCT Administration has approved the establishment of 10 Cottage Centres in the rural

communities per Quarter of the year in April 2017. So far, the Agency has successfully established 4 Centres at Rimba and Nuku Communities (Abaji AC) for Shea Butter, Chikuku Community (Kwali AC) for Cassava alue chain Project, and Guito Community (Bwari AC) for fish.These Projects are pilots and have gainfully engaged 250 individuals by
creating 100 jobs.On the challenges facing the agency, the Managing Director said  One
of the challenges facing Entrepreneurs in the FCT is the difficulty in securing finances to facilitate Business start-up and growth. The Agency has designed various initiatives and financial products to enable entrepreneurs have easy access to finance for their businesses.

The Agency also was selected as the Special Purpose Vehicle for the FCT Administration
on the disbursement of the CBN MSME Development Funds.The Agency during the  period under review successfully disbursed a total of N1.98 billion to 5,317 Businesses, Cooperatives and people living with disabilities (PLWD).Also, the FCT MFB which was
established in 2013 by the FCT Administration and being supervised by AEA was a
deliberate effort in addressing the challenges faced by the MSMEs in accessing finances.

It is a State level MFB with N100Million Capital holding. So far, it has over 20,000 clients and about 10,000 have accessed finances for their businesses.On the utilizing of acquired skills, the Agency in line with the FCTA bid to accelerate jobs creation in the FCT implemented the Entrepreneurship, Skills Acquisition Training.a total of 200 FCT indigenes were trained on entrepreneurial modules skills acquisition such as Confectioneries, paint production and Shoemaking, amongst others. The FCT Administration also provided take off grants worth N6 million for participants of the training to start
their businesses.