United Bank for Africa Plc in partnership with Empretec Nigeria Foundation; a United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) affiliate based in Nigeria, will run series of training and personal entrepreneurial skills development workshops for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) operators in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

The move, which is geared towards enhancing the economic viability of businesses operating in the SME sector, will be made possible through an initiative known as UBA Growing Businesses; a platform created by the bank for empowering SME’s across the African continent, through access to finance, capacity and entrepreneurial skills development.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative in Lagos recently, the Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr Phillips Oduoza said series of workshops facilitated by Empretec and UNCTAD personnel will be held for over 600 SME operators in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri and Kano in the first phase.

Similar workshops, according to him will also be held for SME operators in select African countries such as Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda and Burkina Faso as part of commitment by the bank to contribute to the development of small scale businesses noting that the bank has also recently launched a N50 billion ($350 million) Agro support fund, to aid the development of the agricultural sector.

He said UBA chose to be involved in this project based on the recognition of the immense contribution of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to the economic development of nations and the strong conviction that the multiplier effect of equipping operators with the requisite wealth creation skills will have in the economies of African countries.

“SMEs are faced with a number of challenges such as; access to finance and lack of capacity and entrepreneurial skills. It is in recognition of the need to assist them overcome these challenges that we have established ‘UBA Growing Businesses’, which serves as the platform for supporting SMEs across Africa in the area of capacity and entrepreneurial development” he stated.

Also speaking at the event, Mrs. Onari Duke, Country Director/CEO EMPRETEC Foundation said the primary mission of the organization is to provide developmental support to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, through training, consultancy, productivity improvement, technology enhancement schemes and international executive placement programmes amongst others.

She said that the workshops will focus on broad skills empowerment areas such as; Business Skills Enhancement & Development, Behaviour and Attitudinal Training, Facilitating Access to Finance and Creation of Business Networking Opportunities.

“The EMPRETEC strategy has produced enviable results throughout its 20 years of operation and the partnership with UBA will increase the number of beneficiaries in Nigeria and Africa as a whole’ she assured.