SMEDAN congratulates Aliko Dangote

THE Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Mohammed Nadada Umar, has congratulated the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, over his rating as Africa’s richest man by Forbes, and the nomination of Dangote Group of Companies as one of Africa’s leading conglomerates by the Financial Times of London.

In his congratulatory letter, Alhaji Umar described Dangote’s award as ‘significant’, adding that SMEDAN was particularly touched by Alhaji Dangote’s recent endowment of N5 billion to finance micro, small and medium enterprises development, which has opened a veritable window of opportunity for SME financing in Nigeria.

He wrote: ’’As an Agency of the Federal Government charged with the responsibility of facilitating and coordinating the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria , we appreciate this rare gesture, which helps to meet the demand for working capital by the agency’s trained entrepreneurs who have acquired requisite vocational and enterpreneural training.’’

He added that the strings of honours and awards accorded to Alhaji Dangote showed that he would continue to be an inspiration to many young entrepreneurs who saw him as a role model. ’’Through your various subsidiaries, you have touched lives in many ways, especially in an era where Nigerians have bemoaned the nation’s unsustainable consumption pattern and import dependency.’’

Alhaji Umar reiterated SMEDAN’s readiness to collaborate with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to ensure that genuine entrepreneurs benefit from the N5 billion endowment for micro, small and medium enterprises development.

He  informed Alhaji Dangote that SMEDAN, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had begun to conduct a baseline study to gather critical data on the demographic profile of existing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Source : Tribune