SON, MSMEs brainstorm on how products can become globally competitive

While the country’s Micro, Small and Medium (Enterprises ) MSMEs are grappling with many challenges and products rejection outside the country, both organisations had a brainstorming interaction to find a way out of the challenges by adhering to quality and standard.

 Speaking at the occasion at the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ( MAN’s) house, the Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria ( SON) Mallam Farouk Salim said no country can develop with only big companies.

 Salim said recent research showed that the country has about 40 millions of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ( MSMEs) and Small and Medium Enterprises ( SMEs), adding that if each of these MSMEs and SMEs employ just three workers alone, a total of about 180 million jobs would be provided.

    The SON boss further added that if the country can provide 180 million jobs, most of the begging in our streets and banditry plaguing the country would have reduced to the barest level.

    The SON boss averred that many economically developed countries of today like China, Taiwan, Japan and many others in the 50s to the early 70s, were not where they are today, adding that most of us saw their products as substandard, but today have developed their products to become globally competitive.

      ” In the 60s and the 70s, we had Ijebu products, Aba products, Taiwan products, China products, Indian products that many of us were saying were substandard.

    ” With hard work and collaboration today China is the number two economy nation in the world. Most of us here in this hall have one 1Phone or the other. Most of them are produced in China,” he stressed.

     The event with ” Products Competitiveness Driving Home – Grown Economy Via Standardization” as it theme drawn participants from many MSMEs and SMEs associations, such as block makers association, National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), National Association of Women Industrialists, Association of Women Businesses, Association of Small Business Owners and many others.

    Responding to questions from the participants, the SON boss said he was sorry for the inability of the head of the SMEs Desk and her team to be present in the event.

    He promised to collaborate with the MSMEs stakeholders who requested for ” MSMEs hub” to assist the MSMEs to produce goods that will be accepted outside Nigeria.

    He lamented that the inability of our farmers to ask for the global standards led to our yams that were exported some years ago were rejected due to poor standard, poor packaging and poor chemical usage.

    He promised that his agency was prepared to work with the MSMEs to enhance standardization and grow their businesses.

   Salim pleaded with the participants to adhere to standards set by his agency if the country hope to benefit from African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), as the products from the entire continent are free to move to every country, adding that any products that fails to embrace standard will not be able to go to other markets outside Nigeria.

   ” As we are today, any producer that fails to embrace product competitiveness, his or her products will not grow beyond the local market.

   ” There is little the government can do to stop products coming from outside the country with the take off of AfCFTA.

   ” Our Naira will continue to fall if we continue to import and fail to export our products. It is left to us to buy the products produced in Nigeria with our Naira, then exchanging our Naira with huge dollars just for us to import products our MSMEs and SMEs can produce here locally,” he said.