The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, says the launching of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) is for growth and development of Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria.
Abubakar said this during the formal launching of GEN Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.
She explained that the global entrepreneurship conference holds annually to showcase the activities of SMEs all over the country.
”Today we launched GEN Nigeria, I believe we have 160 countries which are partners in this scheme and Nigeria just launched its own today.
”We all understand that when we are talking about Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), SMEs have a major role to play in industrialisation.
”This is one step that will give access to market, give capacity building opportunities that will build SMEs in terms of quality and product diversification,” Abubakar noted.
Chairman, Board of Trustees, GEN Nigeria, Peter Bankole, said that the objective of the platform was to ensure that SMEs enjoyed equal opportunities with others around the world.
He said that the five key approaches of GEN Nigeria were to celebrate SMEs, support them, allow for competition, understand and connect them.
”We will show them how to reach for support outside what we can provide, so it is not that everything will be gotten from here,” Bankole added.