ACCI Urges FG to consider access to finance and electricity stability

The President of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mr. Tony Ejinkeonye has urged the Federal government to consider access to finance and stable electricity supply as key to small and medium enterprise growth.
According to the ACCI boss, reports shows that SMEs provides a mapping of growth patterns in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 20 years. During the last decade we have observed a strong shift towards high and persistent growth in Nigeria and other countries in the region, taking a closer look at the role of SMEs when developing countries move into a pattern of substantially stronger growth. We belief that gradually, these firms play a pivotal role in industrial development and restructuring, satisfying rising local demand for services, allowing for increased specialization and supporting larger firms with inputs and services.
This way, SMEs become engines that sustain growth for long term development. We point to a substantial literature showing that there is a strong correlation between business environment and growth opportunities for SMEs. The better the business environment, the more SMEs will be established. SMEs growth opportunities in Nigeria are severely hampered by access to finance and stable supply of electricity.
 Businesses consider access to electricity and finance as the most important challenges when operating and developing business in Nigeria. Where micro companies meet several assisting financial measures, there seems to be a lack of instruments supporting the more established, yet still vulnerable SMEs.