The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has emphasised the need for Nigerians to get the required knowledge needed to start up any business.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr Olawale Fasanya said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
He expressed concern that many people who go into business focus more on the issue of access to finance while leaving out the requisite knowledge to run the business.
According to Fasanya, in as much as access to finance is a problem, entrepreneurs don’t bother to ask why it is that they start a business with funds, they have all the money, but within three years the business dies.
“So, we try first to let them understand that it is not all about money, you must first have the requisite knowledge.
“You must build your capacity to start business, do not start business by perception, 80 perncent of Nigerians go into business by perception.
“Because my neighbour has a poultry and he is buying cars, I also want to go into poultry business, so they put money together and go without building their capacity.
“You do not know whether the neighbour is buying cars because the children abroad are sending cars to him and not necessarily from the business,’’ Fasanya said.
He pledged the agency’s commitment to continue to train entrepreneurs.
“We now know that a lot of people are into Information Technology and we are partnering with Google and Facebook to train people on how to take advantage of e-business to market their products,’’ he said. (NAN)
