174 Nigerian Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been empowered after three years of implementing the European Union funded facility to produce high quality Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and health-care related products.
The empowerment programme which was birthed in response to Covid-19 containment measures, aimed to strengthen the capacity of selected local MSMEs/manufacturers across the six geo-political zones to upgrade production processes and adopt World Health Organisation (WHO) standards and technical regulations to meet local demand and export to ECOWAS sub region.
Implemented by four United Nations agencies of Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), UN Women, the WHO, the beneficiaries were assisted and trained in intervention areas of quality management and SOPs, business linkage, production and equipment management, strategic marketing and business planning.
Other area of the intervention includes women and youth mainstreaming, financial management, occupational health safety, labour standards and job creation.
Out of these beneficiaries, 170 MSMEs were trained by the ILO, 62 by UNIDO, 127 by the WHO and 63 MSMEs by the United Nations Women.
At the project final wrap-up and achievements awareness in Abuja on Monday, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale urged stakeholders to consider synergies that promote women empowerment, local industries that create employment opportunities in Nigeria where the rate of unemployment is very high.
Similarly, UNIDO regional director and representative to ECOWAS, Jean Bakole, said through the empowerment, the MSMEs have improved their products, business processes, packaging etc. where they increase in their revenues and are employing extra hands to support their enterprises.
According to him most of the MSMEs that benefitted from the project are women and youth led MSMEs including 10 MSMEs run by vulnerable people of which 70 per cent of assisted MSMEs are women led with over 50 percent being youth of age between 18-35 years.
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