Fed Govt to streamline SMEs intervention policies

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday said that the Federal Government would streamline intervention policies for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enable more people to benefit.
Osinbajo gave the assurance at the Third Annual Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Forum in Lagos.
He said that the government would continue to embrace policies that would encourage start-ups to thrive.
He commended the Founder of TEF, Mr Tony Elumelu, for the initiative, which he noted had been result-oriented.
Speaking on “Tyranny of the Past or History”, Osinbajo called on Africans to stop remembering the past with apprehension.
He said that dwelling on the past could cripple ones hope and vision.
According to Osinbajo, African countries are nearly defeating hunger and famine with new farming tools, discovering cure for diseases and eradicating most causes of infant mortality.
He called on the TEF participants to take advantage of the initiative for the growth and development of their countries instead of relying on the past.
“The great days have come, everyone that has succeeded has his or her own failures,” Osinbajo said.
Earlier, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group, identified infrastructure gap, corruption, policy inconsistency, low inter-trade rate and scarcity of finance as some challenges of entrepreneurship development in Africa.
Dangote, however, said that a resilient investor would overcome the challenges.
He said that SMEs should avoid waste, build strong teams and ensure cost efficiency to survive.
Dangote said that Africa’s potential was enormous, hoping that the continent would experience a boom with enhanced agriculture.