- Our SME Credit Facility a Huge Success – LASG
The Lagos State Government has described as a huge success its various initiatives targeted towards facilitating easy access to credit for operators in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector of the economy.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who stated this recently, added that apart from facilitating access to credit, the state government had also opened up market access to the operators.
He said, “Our efforts at encouraging market-based development and a positive business environment have been yielding buoyant fruits with steady increase in our Gross Domestic Product, especially with significant contributions from the non-oil sector.
“Our success is largely attributable to our innovative policies of facilitating access to credit, especially for our teeming small businesses through direct disbursement by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and collaboration with other public and private finance providers.
“Aside from provision of credit, we have focused on provision of market access for the MSMEs and creation of economic zones including small-scale industrial estates, industrial parks and clusters down to the flagship free trade zone, the Lekki Free Zone.”
The governor said that in addition, the state had encouraged skilled labour development and establishment of partnerships for entrepreneurship development, technology and innovation among youths and women.
Ambode said these initiatives, in addition to others, contributed to Lagos State’s ability to account for Nigeria’s movement by 24 steps higher on the World Bank’s 2018 Global Business rankings.
While delivering a speech during the Lagos Special Day, which held as part of the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair, the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Mr. Rotimi Ogunleye, said that the state government provided a special platform for the SMEs to relieve them of the burden of bearing the cost of participation.
