On Thursday, 10th December 2020, as part of the Federal Government Survival Fund programme, The Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and the Bank of Industry, Nigeria organized an MSME Survival Fund Capacity Building training for MSMEs in Ibadan.
The training covered Business Formation and Structuring, Bookkeeping and Accounting, Financial Management, Taxation, and Branding.
The event, which was organized at Wennovation Hub, Ibadan, was implemented by the innovation accelerator for Quantum Mechanics Limited, had over 50 participants in attendance. Other organizations that supported the programme were Lofty Inc Allied Partners and Cirkle Labs. This event was part of a series of capacity building programmes held across several cities in the country.
After initial introductions and light conversations, the first training session on Business Formation was done by Wennovation Hub’s Programs Manager, Habeeb Kolade. Habeeb shared extensively how to structure one’s businesses for growth using several case studies. He also dwelled on branding, customer segmentation and targeting, as well as customer feedback procedures.
His session was followed by Ajayi Ezekiel, a chartered accountant, where an intensive and practical workshop on bookkeeping was conducted. Beyond helping the participants understand how to record their daily business transactions, Mr Ezekiel shared a new software with them that could help them do this at a low cost. He also shared ideas on how the business owners could put checks in places to prevent accounting fraud, while also shedding light on how taxation works and how the business owners can be compliant.
The event took a short break to provide an audience for Honourable Kazeem Bolarinwa, Special Assistant to the Oyo State Government on Youth and Sports who was in attendance. He gave a 20 minute speech on how the government was creating a conducive environment for businesses in the state while also taking time to motivate the participants, who were mostly young people, to continue to believe in their capacity to build great businesses and be active participants in the development of the society. As a representative of the Oyo State government, Hon. Kazeem reiterated that the participants can trust that the current government is actively working to better the lives of citizens in the state. On concluding his speech and in gratitude to his support for the programme, Hon. Kazeem was presented an award by the Habeeb Kolade.
Honourable Kazeem Bolarinwa addressing the participants
The final session featured Mr Babafemi Adewumi, an astute business developer, who spoke about financial management. In his session, Babafemi dwelled on case studies that helped participants better understand how they can keep their businesses sustainable in the changing times.
The program started as scheduled by 10am and was concluded by 4pm. Participants received their certificates of participation at the end of the program after taking their lunch packs. They also gave awesome feedback about how the programme had contributed immensely to their business knowledge and thanked the organizers for making it a success.
