BUSINESS
NESG partners FG in creating opportunities for Startups
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, have concluded all plans to create opportunities for Startups in the country through the 23rd Nigeria Economic Summit (NES) holding next month in Abuja.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the NESG in Lagos on Tuesday, the Minister, Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said that the economic summit has become an annual dialogue and indeed the flagship event of the NESG providing a credible and widely recognized platform for top policy makers and corporate leaders.
The Minister noted that as part of the solutions based format adopted to deliver this year edition of NES, the Startups Pitching Events, which is the first of its kind will connect new ventures seeking to raise funds with potential investors.
He explained that eight selected early-stage startups that are registered in Nigeria, and which have been doing business for no more than three years will be invited to pitch in front of venture capitalists and investors in order to create opportunities for Nigerian youth.
According to him, this year economic summit will also, provide the fundamental elements of a national jobs agenda that translates opportunities into economic impact through targeted intervention for creating the quality, quantity and sustainability of jobs that drive growth.
“It also brings together development partners, civil society and representatives of the academia as well as provides participants the unique opportunity for consensus on issues of national development whilst evolving a common strategy and policy framework for addressing issues constraining our national development’, the Minister added.
He, however, explained that the annual Economic Summits have helped shape many of the reform policies that have underpinned the evolution of the nation’s our economic growth strategy over the past 24 years.
“Last year’s summit, NES 22, focused on “Made-In-Nigeria’ with the aim of getting stakeholders commitment to the structural and fiscal changes required to diversify the Nigerian economy by placing much-needed emphasis on Made-in-Nigeria goods and services.
“It provided a timely opportunity for a national economic review and created a consensus amongst all Nigerians on the need for us to significantly increase the level of productivity across all sectors. Most of the Summit outcomes have been mainstreamed into the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020 which was launched by the President”, he said.
The theme of this year’s Summit, therefore, linked to the implementation of the ERGP, which is: “Opportunity, Productivity & Employment: Actualizing the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan.”
The minister said that the implementation of the ERGP is critical to achieving the ambition goals of this current administration, so as to diversify the economy and attain a growth rate of seven per cent by 2020.
“The Summit will elicit and adopt a solutions-based approach in addressing the issues that will expand opportunities, tackle unemployment and improve productivity”, he said.
Meanwhile, the eminent challenges with doing business in Nigeria, a major deterrent to startups is access to finance and funding.
Though numerous financial institutions exist to provide access to loans, the double digit interest rates and repayment plans instill a feeling of dread and foreboding in the minds of entrepreneurs.
Startups play an integral role to building a sustainable economy as they contribute directly to job creations economic diversity
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