Lagos Trade Fair Lead Sponsor Pledges Continuous Support To SMEs

The lead sponsor of the annual Lagos International Trade fair, the United Bank for Africa, (UBA) has pledged it’s continuous support to the growth of SME’s. 

This promise was made stating that they play a critical role in advancing the success of economies all over the world.

At the opening ceremony of this year’s Lagos International Trade Fair, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, United Bank of Africa’s Head, Retail Products and Sales, Prince Ayewoh said that SMEs and MSMEs are key allies in implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

While commending the LCCI for its visionary leadership in consistently hosting the trade fair as well as creating a veritable platform for businesses in Nigeria and Africa to thrive and prosper, Prince Ayewoh said that the UBA was proud to retain its headline sponsorship position for the fair.

“United Bank for Africa, since 2019 continues to not only pull its weight behind the fair, by consistently retaining headline sponsorship for this all-important event, but also provide far reaching expert advice that empower SME’s to go ahead and become global champions as we have seen with many success stories of businesses that once participated at this fair, some time ago.”

“Also as a leader in African trade and the promotion of SMEs, we have identified the fair as a genuine avenue for both domestic and international trade exhibitors to promote their businesses through product launches, sales opportunities, and business-to-business meetings with government agencies while fostering international trade partnership deals across borders.”

He said that the vision of the LCCI has done well to transform the fair to become one of the major attractions of trade in Africa when it comes to SME attendance across the continent.

“Since its inception, it has grown to become the largest trade show in sub Saharan Africa and has attracted both national and international entrepreneurs from over 1600 companies all over the world.”

Prince Ayewoh however lamented that the lack of adequate finance for MSMEs often prevented them from reaching their full potential, despite these remarkable contributions.

He said: “More than 200 million MSMEs in developing countries lack adequate financing. Access to adequate capital is an important condition for promoting entrepreneurship, enterprise formation, sustained economic growth, job creation and productive investment.

Initiatives to enhance access to finance for MSMEs need to go hand in hand with efforts to enhance skills and know-how across enterprises, to promote research and development and to put in place enabling infrastructure such as telecommunications, roads, power and ports.”

He stressed that MSMEs also need compliance support and management resources to compete globally, to be part of global supply chains, and to grow into stronger enterprises.

“There is ample evidence that SMEs with high-growth potential require early access to international markets in a bid to ensure their development and growth. While generally SMEs report increased international business contacts in recent years, it suggests that relative to the contribution they make to local and national economies, SMEs remain, overall, under-represented in the international economy, and change in this respect is slow to happen.”

Ayewoh explained that while SMEs typically contribute around 50% of GDP and 60% of employment in national or local economies, most evidence suggests they contribute only about 30% of exports and even less of international investment.

According to him, it is on this premise that the UBA, which has an extensive spread across Africa and other major economies of the world, is always on the lookout for partnership opportunities that will benefit the business environment and the economies where we operate.

Prince Ayewoh then reiterated the bank’s commitment to carrying every single stakeholder along in its objective of lifting businesses in Africa to unprecedented heights.

Olusola Akintonde