Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has stated that the state government has disbursed about N25 billion in grants and loans to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, to enhance productivity and economic growth in the state.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed this at a parley on Thursday during the 2024 Business Day Newspaper CEO Forum, with the theme “Governors in Conversation-Innovative Governance: Steering States through Economic Turbulence” at the Balmoral Hall, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Governor who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat stated that the grants and loans have helped to empower entrepreneurs to flourish in doing their businesses and stimulate the economy.
According to Sanwo-Olu, “The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund over the past six years has given out close to twenty-five billion in terms of grants and assisting people with loans. “In this case, single-digit loans were offered to them to sustain and train them on how to manage their businesses.”
Sanwo-Olu said the state government also helped them to source products, have access to the market, and help them to interact with NAFDAC, BOI, CAC, and Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) among other agencies for them to understand how to run their businesses within the framework of the laws.
“It is for us to create those types of environments that allow private people to run their businesses and create jobs for the future,” the governor stated.
He added that all these initiatives are what the government does to ensure that businesses within the state rise, noting that his administration aimed to enhance the Nano SMEs and provide access to grants and loans for their businesses to continue to thrive and succeed.
Sanwo-Olu stated further that his administration is committed to the ease of doing business, enhancing businesses, and helping the citizens to grow. ” These are the goals of our administration as embedded in the T.H.E.M.E.S+ developmental agenda with the ‘M’ Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy”, said the governor.
The governor highlighted some of his administration’s initiatives to create an enabling environment for business development. These include Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Employment (KITE), a hub that houses younger people who don’t have funds to access an office or shop to operate. He also listed LASRIC, for Fintech and other technology-driven businesses; Lagos Financial Center which creates a zone for financial services, among other initiatives.
He also informed that his government is creating the largest food hub in Imota, which will allow the government to aggregate what comes into the state and also aid proper food storage and food security in the State, emphasizing that all these initiatives enable young people to bring out creative ideas that help them to develop such into reality by giving them the needed support.
“It’s gratifying that young people are creating jobs using the initiative of the state government like the LASRIC, for fintech and other technology-driven businesses, so this is the environment we are creating” Sanwo-Olu concluded.
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