The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is collaborating with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to establish a SME Digital Academy.
It is believed that with the Digital Academy, the MSMEs, start-ups, freelancers, would be provided with a platform to access courses “on-the-go” from devices and locations of their convenience.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta while speaking at the launch, which took place at the NEXIM House in Abuja recently, said the scheme was based on the realization that in today’s global economy, a borderless educational and economic system will be the next stage of the digital economy.
He recalled that when SMEDAN set up the Digital Academy, in November 2020, as an avenue to support SME development during the Covid- 19 lockdown, the NCC was excited and immediately keyed into the strategic partnership because of the potential impact of the initiative on the Nigerian economy.
Danbatta who was ably represented by NCC’s Director, Digital Economy, Dr. Austin Nwaulune, added that the collaboration was a step towards economic diversification, digital technologies.
The SME Digital Academy is a public-private partnership initiative being driven by the NCC, SMEDAN, and Sapphital Learning Limited, a leading digital learning platform, essentially to provide micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) owners with digital skills to enhance their entrepreneurial skills.
He noted that SMEs’ empowerment would also help in providing employment, lessening societal vices, developing the economy, increasing foreign exchange as well as improving the general well-being of Nigerians.
“Knowledge is pivotal to the growth of entrepreneurship, as it provides the businessman or woman, the know-how on raising capital, strategic partnership, and proper organisational, administrative, sales and marketing skills required to run an effective business. Knowledge is, therefore, the food of every economy, especially, the digital economy, as it fuels its growth and stimulated the digital ecosystem,” Danbatta said.
The EVC restated the unflinching commitment of the Commission to providing the required leverage needed for ICT development in Nigeria, just as it will support the Digital Academy to provide a digital platform for entrepreneurs and start-ups across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Director-General of SMEDAN, Dr. Dikko Radda, who was represented by the Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion at the agency, Moses Ewan, expressed delight at the partnership with the NCC, and declared that over 41.5 million MSME were domiciled in Nigeria.
Citing a recent survey, Radda noted that the entrepreneurs had contributed 49.78 per cent to the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP), leading to the employment of about 59.6 million Nigerians which translates to 76.5 per cent of the labour force.
“These small-scale enterprises need to be encouraged and nurtured to enable them to create jobs, contribute to the alleviation of poverty, and want. SMEDAN, which is an agency in the Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry and established over 15 years ago, operates on five platforms, namely, dissemination of information, delivery of business development services, networking and cluster formation, policy and public advocacy, and lastly, provision of access to critical resources,” Radda said.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Sapphital Learning Limited, Amu Ogbeide, expressed delight that the initiative will empower entrepreneurs and start-ups in the country. He also said that, through working with SMEDAN, Sapphital has been instrumental to the digitisation of SMEDAN’s entrepreneurial digital literacy journey.