By Ayodele Abere.
The Assistant Director Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr Suhaibu Haruna who represented the Director General of the Agency, Mr. Olawale Fasanmi, has charged the beneficiaries of a two-week training programme in Ekiti to see it as an advantage to make their lives better.
The DG representative made the charge while speaking with journalists at the end of the training in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital.
Describing the objective of the training, Mr. Suhaibu, said it’s a vocational and entrepreneurship training for artisans which he according to him was to bridge the skills gap. Noting that skills acquisition is key to employment, he said, “if you acquire skills, you can run with it for the rest of your life as he opined that after the training, “we would be getting more people self employed which will equally reduce youths restiveness as over 95% of the beneficiaries were youths and women”.
Speaking further, Mr. Haruna explained that the programme was targeted at up skilling people’s skills and also after training, “we conduct entrepreneurship training for them, so that we train them how to convert the skills into money making ventures and at the end of the programme, we will also give them start up equipment”. He added.
“By the time we give you introductory training and equipment, that will now encourage you to go and learn proper. One thing about skills is that they change every day. So you have to keep updating”.
Giving the number of the people that have benefited from the programme in Ekiti State, the Assistant Director, said this was the third time the programme would be holding in Ekiti State.
“When we started in 2020, we came here and we trained 96 persons. Last year, we trained 145 people and this year, we trained 90 people. By next year, we will still up skill.
“For those in fashion designing, 70 industrial sewing machines were given to them. 10 equipment each were given to those in photography and catering services.
Speaking on how to monitor and ensure that the equipment are used for the purpose they are meant for, Mr Suhaibu said the Agency has restrategised since they noticed that some trainees sold the equipment given to them in the previous year.
“We have put a Monitoring and Evaluation component. On the component of the monitoring, we added what we call extension services, for the extension services, our staff now go to the addresses of the beneficiaries to ascertain if they are on ground. And I am pleased to inform you that after last year’s edition, we have had 83% of compliance of those who benefited”. Said Suhaibu Haruna.
One of the beneficiaries, Ibrahim Fatimah Adesola, a fashion designer who was filled with excitement, explained that she has learnt a lot through the programme particularly how to run a successful business.
“We have been thought how to run a successful business, make a good profit and satisfy our clients. Also, we were thought how to manage our resources and how to get a good location to run our business”.
She explained that she used to incur some losses before. Having partook in the training, she said she has been able to identify the areas she was getting it wrong.
“I have been in the business since 2019 and I have not been able to break even because I didn’t really understand business”. Fatimah stated.
In a similar vein, Bamgboye Lydia, a caterer said she was able to learn about business plan and record keeping in the course of the training which according to her would really help her to improve on her catering service.
“There were some things I didn’t know before which I have been able to learn and know through the training”.
Another beneficiary, Ejenawo Raphael, a photographer, said it’s a great opportunity for him to have been part of the programme saying that the instructors did well by bringing all their equipment and take them through the practical aspects of photography.
“With what I have learnt now, I am going to put them into practice all with the equipment given to me.
The beneficiaries all appreciated the Federal Government for the implementation of the programme and that they would want it continue.