Employment Trust Fund: 15,000 new jobs created in two years- Oyebode

…Says N6bn disbursed to 8,000 beneficiaries in Lagos

Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Mr. Akintunde Oyebode on Tuesday said that no fewer than 15,000 jobs have been created by the Fund in the last two years.

Speaking to journalists and some Masters Research Students in his office, he said at least 8000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and businesses have also accessed approximately N6billion since inception of the ETF, an initiative of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration through which N25billion was earmarked to be disbursed over a period of four years to provide entrepreneurs, artisans, traders and others with capital to boost their businesses thereby reducing unemployment and increasing wealth among the people.

According to him, since its commencement in 2016, the ETF has continued to grow the economy and create jobs through provision of credit facilities with minimal interest.

He said the Fund is targeted towards creating 300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand) direct and 600,000 (Six Hundred Thousand) indirect jobs within three years, by supporting at least 100,000 (One Hundred Thousand) MSMEs, while it also seeks to add over 200,000 new tax payers to the Lagos State’s tax net by 2019.

“The ETF is primarily targeted at MSMEs and I can tell you that in the last two years, we have been able to fund about 8,000 businesses with over N6billion. Our target is to ensure that we increase that number to at least 15,000 before the end of the year,” he said.

Oyebode said the impact of the fund was already been felt as it has gone a long way to create at least 15,000 direct jobs for skilled persons and thousands of other indirect jobs for unskilled persons, saying that the target to create 300,000 direct and 600,000 indirect jobs was well on course.

“The underlining factor is that people with genuine businesses are keying into the fund. We believe that when we empower one business owner with fund, he or she would require more hands and that translates to one or two persons off the labour market. At the end of the day, as their businesses are growing and expanding, the economy of the State is also recording appreciable growth,” he said.

Oyebode said aside the ETF, the government through the Lagos State Employability Support Project, has also concluded plans with some multinational companies and in affiliation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to produce 10,000 skilled persons within three years to cater for demand in key sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, construction, entertainment, garment making and tourism and hospitality.

“In addition, the project will place at least 6,000 trained persons in jobs and upgrade the equipment and improve the curriculum at two of Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB’s) Colleges,” Oyebode said.

It would be recalled that Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo during a recent event in Lagos described the ETF as an excellent example of how State Governments could intervene in creating opportunities for small businesses.

Ambode canvasses patronage of made in NIgeria products for MSME growth

AgegePulse Magazine

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has underscored the need to increase patronage of locally made products and also expand the capacity of Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State, assuring that his administration will continue to pay greater attention to the sector.

 The Governor who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Dr. Olajide Bashorun, made this known during the Lagos Small Business Summit held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

 He described the theme of the summit "Creating exponential institutions: how government and small businesses can keep up with the market" as very apt considering the need for effective partnership between government institutions and the organized stakeholders in Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs.

 Governor Ambode explained that the summit throws a challenge to all players, both public and private, to look inwards and develop the internal and external capacities of other sectors for steady growth and global competitiveness.

 While making case for the informal sector, Ambode said "we must significantly reduce our taste for foreign-made goods because it is detrimental to the survival and growth of SMEs and their capacity to create wealth and generate employment for our teeming unemployed youths.

 He listed several incentives provided to operators of SMEs under the present administration, saying that tradesmen and artisans in different vocations recently completed a training programme organized by the State Government to further enhance their capacity.

 "During the celebration of the 2017 Day for artisans and tradesmen few weeks back, I directed the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the State Government to henceforth, accord greater recognition to members of the informal sector in terms of increasing patronage for the products of SMEs in line with the State's 'Buy Made in Nigeria Campaign' ‘’the Governor stated.

 He added that the State government had also resolved to engage the services of small and medium scale artisans in the execution of government contracts.

 According to him, the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment was established by the current administration to implement policies aimed at enhancing the capacity of SMEs to harness their contribution to economic growth and development.

 He also said that the Employment Trust Fund was set up to address the challenge of lack of access to funding, stressing that the responses from applicants of the initiative show that young people are willing to take advantage of opportunities when given.

 "As we speak, over N3.5billion Naira has been disbursed to over 6,000 beneficiaries who are at different stages of executing their businesses plan” he stated.

 He assured participants at the summit that government will continue to promote opportunities for MSMEs to thrive by focusing on the development of infrastructure and its processes to improve and enhance the competitiveness and productivity of MSMEs in the State.

 Also speaking at the event, the Chairman, Planning Committee of the 2017 SME 100 Nigeria, Lagos Small Business Summit, Mr. Tope Adekoya commended the Governor for prioritizing the development of small businesses and for his willingness to help these businesses thrive.

 He explained that the idea of bringing all relevant stakeholders together at the Summit is basically to foster discussions on how to build a more successful, industrious and entrepreneurial State.