Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has kick started the Osun State Business Growth Initiative through strategic partnership with federal and international organisations and agencies.
A release by his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed stated that the Governor in Abuja in the last two days directed the hosting of two top flight meetings to address business Growth and industrial foundation for the state in line with his commitment to transform Osun from a civil service state to a business and industrial state.
According to him, the delegation had far reaching discussions with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority on reviving Osun free trade zone and kick-starting the agricultural processing zones adding that another team was at the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to develop a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen SME growth in the state.
He stated that the team that met the SMEDAN management led by Senator Akogun Lere Oyewumi had the Chief of Staff, Hon Kazeem Akinleye and other top government officials in attendance.
Senator Oyewumi who spoke on behalf of the state delegation informed SMEDAN management of the state’s readiness to tap into all the programmes of the agency to develop Osun businesses.
“You can see our delegation is strong and this demonstrates our readiness to grow the Osun business potentials. We seek revival of previous agreements and the creation of new ones. Our government is business friendly”, Oyewumi said.
“The Director General of SMEDAN, Olawale Fasanya told the delegation that Osun is receiving full attention of the agency, citing various initiatives such as the proposed training facility within the Industrial Development Centre, Osogbo, ongoing identification for development of small cluster business zones, matching fund programme advertisements and the conditional grant scheme.
“We have had several MOUs with previous Osun state governments. Now is the time to build up a new one that will be very comprehensive”, the SMEDAN boss noted.
Speaking on the ongoing partnership deals which cover the United Nations Training agency, Governor Adeleke noted as follows, “Our administration is working hard to develop the state business sectors, we need new partnerships with several federal and international agencies.’’
