We’re working towards standardising Nigeria made products — SMEDAN boss reveals

The Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Charles Odii has stated that the agency is working towards standardising Nigeria made products to ensure its competition with foreign products and promote chances of exportation.

Odii explained that the agency has set up a fully equipped innovative centre in Abuja where small businesses owners can come in and produce their commodity without the worry of providence of equipment or power supply.

According to Odii, the agency is in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) so as to propel the exportation of Nigeria made products in Naira without necessarily seeking for dollars.

Odii disclosed this while on an interview with TVC News on Tuesday, 4th of February 2025.

He partly said:

“We have something called the AfCFTA right now, which is Africa’s biggest market place. So right now we can export to pretty much all the African Countries that have acscented to AfCFTA, and we can actually export in Naira and get paid in Naira without looking for dollars. I think it is a phenomenal agreement within the African continent if you ask me.

“One of the things that we’re doing, and we understand that most of our products do not get exported because we have to meet some required standards. We’re now helping our small businesses to standardise their products. We’ve set up an innovative centre for our small businesses here in Abuja and we’ve begun to scale it up to other parts of the country.

“What this means is our small businesses which would want to export either fashion or textile, can come into our SMEDAN complex, you don’t bother about sewing machines, you don’t bother about power, you don’t bother about maintaining the machine, all these is provided in our complex.

“They come there with their materials, they sew, we can help them to warehouse them, and we’ve signed innovative contracts where they can distribute locally, so with Nipost it’s 15%, with God is Good Logistics it’s 20%.

“What this does is this is taking away from the burden of doing businesses in Nigeria. We’re putting up this kind of innovation where we’re helping to increase productivity, and also driving down the cost of doing business.” [CONTINUE READING HERE]>>>>>