A three-day Train-the-trainer capacity building workshop for women and youths has ended in Gombe with a call on the government to provide incentives to encourage domestic companies to expand abroad with assistance from Nigerians in the Diaspora.
The training with the theme, Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Nation building, organised by Kambu International, in partnership with the Gombe State Government and funded by the Bank of Industry, also called on the Gombe State Government to setup the profiling of businesses in the state, as well as establishment of a trustworthy and reliable database of businesses to ensure confidence and trust.
Participants also urged the government to provide incentives for innovation and SME development, through engagement, enablement and empowerment, as well as build the enthusiasm generated by the workshop, while also urging the government to provide adequate infrastructure to guarantee confidence in the local economy, such as security.
They said there was the need for improved functional integration among major stakeholders in Gombe State, involve in the facilitation, mentoring and monitoring of entrepreneurship capacity building initiatives to ensure effective coordination, while encouraging all stakeholders to publicize their success story, which would enhance the promotion of SME development and encourage more youths and women to
venture into entrepreneurship.
Artery of the North
According to the Managing Partner, Chief Executive Officer, Kambu International Nigeria, Mrs. Dabny Shall-Holma, Gombe is viewed as the artery in Northern Nigeria, hence the importance attached to the collaboration with the government to carry out the train-the-trainer programme.
“This programme is phased and is focused on entrepreneurship up scaling for participants requiring improvement in their businesses skills and it will include financial, legal and regulatory issues, business visioning, leadership entrepreneurship, Financial and Accounts recording, because, most businesses fail because of lack of recording. You don’t keep stock, you don’t take inventory, so, you don’t know how much you are losing or how much you are gaining.
“Networking using ICT Marketing relationships, branding and packaging, and business plan developing, which is critical to enable you access funding, wherever the funding is,” said Mrs. Shall-Holma.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, and the Executive Director, Small and Medium Enterprises, Dr. Shekarau Dauda Omar, were both represented by the Regional Manager, North East, Mr. Bello James Barde, who said the bank decided to consider Gombe State first when it decided to expand offices to state offices Gombe in the North East.
Consequently, he said the workshop was aimed at making women and youths self-reliant.
“Through a holistic module that will exploit their ineptitude, while also enhancing their entrepreneurial aspect of business management, thus they will be empowered with the necessary skills to be self-employed, nurtured and grow their business into big ventures as well as engage in productive livelihood and also become employers of
labour, create their job seekers.”
The Bank of Industry said the move would ensure that women and youths
become active contributors to the economy and the social activities of
the community, state and the nation as a whole.
It said the skills acquisition programme would encouraging graduates
of tertiary institutions become employers of labour, rather than job
seekers, and address he entrepreneurship capacity gaps of young
Nigerians, building the capacity of women and youths, among others.
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, who was represented by the
Commissioner of Commerce and Tourism, Mr. Nasiru Aliyu Muhammad, the
state government was making efforts to create an enabling environment
to ensure that the state also becomes an industrial hub in the North
East, including the training of businessmen to learn the act of
exporting through learning how to process and export farm produce and
by providing some waivers on all the requirements.
“One was carried out in conjunction with the Export Promotion Council
and another one is coming up, while we draw all our businessmen across
the state to be trained to.
“This being all known in order to improve
on our economic activities, improve on value addition of our farm
produce, creating employment opportunities. The government is also
making serious efforts to ensure that it provides the conducive
business environment. Whoever comes to establish a business, waivers
have been made and we will ensure that whenever you come to the state
to establish an industry or any commercial venture, we make sure we
ease things for you, all administrative bottlenecks will be removed to
ensure that we have made things easy for you to establish the
business,” said Governor Yahaya.
He said the initiatives had helped the state to be ranked first in the
36 states in the federation in the ease of doing business,
subsequently attracting contractors into the state, “because only recently, last week, a company has come to establish a cement factory which is even going to be bigger than Ashaka Cement in Gombe State. Very soon, may be by next week early next month we are commissioning a new factory, a foam factory known as Harafoam.
An investor just came recently from Nortory.
“He is trying to establish a rice processing plant, which is a big one for the purpose of export is already in the offing,” Governor Yahaya said.
He said the Industrial Park in Dadin Kowa Dam, when fully operational
would provide the needed environment for businesses to thrive, couple
with the manpower being developed by trainings such as the one by Kambu International,
“So, we believe that by the time this Industrial park comes up, it will provide employment opportunities for our youths and also increase the economic activities in the state and making Gombe State an
industrial hub,” said Governor Yahaya.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Julius Ishaya, encouraged the
application of hard work, which will translate into the multiplication
of whatever resources provided to them.
He said the administration of Governor Yahaya was the one that
understood the reality of hard work, saying “the workshop is timely
and this government is ready, is open.”
Hauwa Abu
