Nwaokolo: Nigeria’s Finance System Not Designed To Support Nano and Micro Businesses

Amaka Nwaokolo, Head of the Fate institute, has highlighted the challenges faced by Nano and micro businesses in getting financial assistance. 

In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Nwaokolo spoke on the inherent issue with access to finance systems by nano and micro businesses. 

She said, “When we think of the access to finance problem, it’s very multi-layered, so being able to access finance from financial institutions, for example, at a single digit rate, it’s great; however, not everyone will qualify for that, so the question is how do we rethink the MSME’s sector?

“They form the larger demographic of that number, and a lot of them cannot afford the requirements that financial institutions typically put forward.”

She stated that “the system is just not designed to support nano and micro businesses.

“Now, what we need to do is to rethink that model to say, this is the target demographic we are dealing with, these are the issues that they have, these are the peculiarities that are typically associated with this group, so how do we design innovative funding products that can address the gaps that they have whilst also taking into cognisance the issues and risks associated with that demographic.”

Nwaokolo also emphasized the importance of implementation and evaluation of the manufacturing stimulus package stated in President Tinubu’s broadcast. She spoke of the need for the implementers of this scheme to show a thorough projection plan for repayment and implementation for accountability.

She said, “I think it’s a great initiative coming up at this time particularly especially considering the potential that the manufacturing company has and the potential it has to provide jobs, when we think of the unemployment rate in Nigeria.

“However, what I would like to see will be the implementation approach, what I would also like to see will be the monitoring and evaluation mechanism that is being set in place and some of the projections that the team behind implementing this already has in place.”

Frances Ibiefo

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