African government and private sector operators have been urged to increase support to African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the sector considered to be the lifeblood of the continent's economy.
Chairman of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu who made the call at a gathering of senior policymakers and developments experts hosted by UK’s leading foreign policy institute noted that the economy of the continent depends largely on the growth of the SMEs.
Elumelu emphasized the critical importance of mentoring and funding for the survival of small businesses.
In a continent where only 700 companies generate over $500m in annual revenue, half the number in other regions, Elumelu called for targeted support to grow these small businesses into scalable companies capable of becoming big corporates in the future.
According to him, SMEs are known to be the largest job creators and should be prioritized because of the inverse relationship between security and prosperity – “when there is prosperity, security is not an issue, but when there are fewer jobs, insecurity heightens.”
He also warned against peddling negative information about the continent, saying such discouraged investors from investing in Africa.
“I believe that the greatest challenge Africa has as a continent when it comes to attracting investment is in the way it is portrayed. Information presented about Africa is neither holistic nor properly contextualized and has led to the kind of narrative that we have had for so long on Africa," the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation said.
He said as an investor when all you have heard about Africa is corruption, how would you pass a positive investment decision to go and invest in the continent? "The result is that the vicious cycle of neglect continues and is even reinforced.”
“We must reset the way we see and discuss Africa. People do business with people they are comfortable with.
"Investors who repeatedly hear horrible things about our people and the continent will never invest here. We will continue to host national gatherings and seminars to discuss unemployment, poverty and income inequality if we do not fix the existing information asymmetry, the poor quality of information that is put out,” Elumelu noted.
Elumelu emphasized the critical importance of mentoring and funding for the survival of small businesses.
In a continent where only 700 companies generate over $500m in annual revenue, half the number in other regions, Elumelu called for targeted support to grow these small businesses into scalable companies capable of becoming big corporates in the future.
According to him, SMEs are known to be the largest job creators and should be prioritized because of the inverse relationship between security and prosperity – “when there is prosperity, security is not an issue, but when there are fewer jobs, insecurity heightens.”
He also warned against peddling negative information about the continent, saying such discouraged investors from investing in Africa.
“I believe that the greatest challenge Africa has as a continent when it comes to attracting investment is in the way it is portrayed. Information presented about Africa is neither holistic nor properly contextualized and has led to the kind of narrative that we have had for so long on Africa," the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation said.
He said as an investor when all you have heard about Africa is corruption, how would you pass a positive investment decision to go and invest in the continent? "The result is that the vicious cycle of neglect continues and is even reinforced.”
“We must reset the way we see and discuss Africa. People do business with people they are comfortable with.
"Investors who repeatedly hear horrible things about our people and the continent will never invest here. We will continue to host national gatherings and seminars to discuss unemployment, poverty and income inequality if we do not fix the existing information asymmetry, the poor quality of information that is put out,” Elumelu noted.
0 comments:
Post a Comment