There were lots of disruptions in the operating environment for small enterprises in the region due to COVID-19-induced restrictions and prevention protocols by different levels of government. This affected access to market, funding and training opportunities for small enterprises.
In response, PIND’s activities for the quarter focused on supporting the business service providers to innovate as they tried to adapt their service offerings to meet the needs of the small enterprises. The Foundation also worked to deepen the relationships between its business service providers and financial institutions, particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria to unlock access to capital for small enterprises under various financing schemes such as the Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) and the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS
Still in the quarter, three business service providers organized business linkages forums in Edo, Imo and Rivers States. These forums provided opportunity to 284 (including 102 female-owned) enterprises to connect and interact with large buyers, financial institutions, and inputs and equipment suppliers
In total, PIND-supported business service providers reached 1,191 (571 female-owned) MSMEs with business support activities, exceeding the 2020 target by 104%
- The combined net sales of 981 MSMEs stood at 5,990,709,015 Naira, while their combined net income was 1,567,952 Naira. This discounts five months of business transactions due to business disruption in 2020 caused by COVID–19 outset.
Using job multipliers from previous impact studies on the different categories of MSMEs, the assisted 981 MSMEs created 2,377 jobs in 2020, with the total investment leveraged through debt financing so far at 2.819 billion Naira, exceeding the year’s target of 1.5 billion Naira.
