NAC & SMEDAN 06/24/2011
 SMEDAN has granted the request of the National Automotive Council, (NAC) to approve the use of part of her IDC land in Zaria to site an automotive test centre. To this end, a formal MOU would be signed by the two Federal Government-owned Agencies.
Speaking in a joint meeting between SMEDAN and NAC delegates, the Director-General of NAC, Engineer Aminu Jalal said, the request was in line with part of the Council’s mandate to ensure that vehicles confirm to safety and environmental standards. The Centre would be made up of material and vehicle evaluation laboratory and an Office block. SMEDAN's DG, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, said the Council’s request was a welcome idea. According to him, ever since the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry handed IDCs over to SMEDAN, on Add Comment SMEDAN & CPC to Launch PROSERVE 06/24/2011
 SMEDAN and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) have concluded plans to launch a special project termed ‘Product Services Monitoring Program’ (PROSERVE), which entails creating a databank of providers and importers of genuine goods and services with a view to protect both producers and consumers from counterfeiting and minimizing fraud in the market.
SMEDAN DG, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, while receiving officials of the Council at the SMEDAN Headquarters in Abuja, said that a comprehensive database would be available in the country before the end of the year, adding that he was confident that the initiative would have far-reaching effects on the economy. Congratulations Aliko Dangote 06/24/2011
 SMEDAN's DG Alhaji Mohammed Nadada Umar, has congratulated the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote over his emergence as Africa’s richest man by Forbes and the nomination of Dangote Group of companies as one of Africa’s leading conglomerates by the Financial Times of London.
In his congratulatory letter, Alhaji Umar described Dangote’s award as ‘significant’, adding that SMEDAN was particularly touched by Alhaji Dangote’s recent endowment of N5 billion to finance the micro, small and medium enterprises development, which has opened a veritable window of opportunity for SME financing in Nigeria. He wrote: ’’As an Agency of the Federal Government charged with the responsibility of facilitating and coordinating the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, we appreciate this rare gesture, which helps to meet the demand for working capital by the Agency’s trained entrepreneurs who have acquired requisite vocational and enterpreneural training’’. GIZ Visits SMEDAN 06/24/2011
Our DG, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar has stressed the need for dedicated banks to fund small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria to ease their financial difficulties which hinder their maximum capacity to grow. Alhaji Umar noted this while receiving a team from the Deutcshe Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German organization working on a new private-sector development programme aimed at improving the access of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to financial services. The development programme, named Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria (SEDIN), also aims to foster employment within MSMEs through an improved business-enabling environment. Alhaji Umar, who noted the similarities in the mandates of SMEDAN and SEDIN said that while funding posed the greatest challenge to the development of MSMEs in the country, SMEDAN remained committed to helping them surmount all challenges in the course of their growth and development through partnership with donor agencies, financial institutions and other government agencies that could make positive impact in the sustainability of the MSMEs. Earlier at the interactive session of the two bodies which held at the SMEDAN Headquarters in Abuja, the visiting Advisors from GIZ, Mr Alexander Speed and Mr Klaus Reiner, in company of the Local Economic Development Coordinator, Margaret Joshua expressed excitement at the prospect of a possible collaboration with SMEDAN, adding that the objectives of the Cooperation programme would have a huge impact on the nation’s economy with the support of the Federal Government. Levi Anyikwa, Assistant Director (Corporate Affairs) Market Speech Magazine Honours DG 06/24/2011
 “Giving honour to whom honour is due”, Market Speech, a business/entrepreneurship and economic magazine, a (publication of Soul Media Concept) gave the DG of SMEDAN, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, a Human Resources Award, in recognition of his support for human development and entrepreneurship. This added more feathers to his cap, as the D-G had in the past, received many other Awards.
Speaking on the reason for the Award, the Publisher/Editor- in-Chief, Mr. Sunny Onovo Davids, said “We have always celebrated Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar in a closet. His good works speak for him. We are aware of his achievements, and have been waiting for a day like today to publicly express our feeling”. According to him, Market Speech and SMEDAN have similarities in that both are business-inclined. They both are out to promote economic activities both at the State and Federal levels. SMEDAN & IOM Fortify Collaboration 06/24/2011
 SMEDAN and the Swiss Government-backed International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have fortified their existing collaboration by signing a MOU for the rehabilitation of Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVRs), trafficked persons and other migrant beneficiaries of IOM programmes in Nigeria.
At the ceremony was held at SMEDAN Headquarters in Abuja, the Chief of Mission, IOM, Mr. Martin Ocaga, signed on behalf of the Organisation, while the Director-General of SMEDAN, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, signed on behalf of SMEDAN. IOM is an organisation that is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society, and so, assists in meeting the operational challenges of migration, encourages social and economic development through migration, and works towards effective respect of human rights and well-being of migrants. MSME Rating Database Planned 06/24/2011
 SMEDAN, in collaboration with Dun and Bradstreet, a world leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, is planning to establish a National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Rating Database to provide a common standard for evaluating, categorizing and monitoring the performance of SMEs in the country.
The proposed rating database is to serve as a catalyst for SME growth, access to finance and job creation in Nigeria, with a view of assisting financial institutions with a standard and reliable mechanism to support due diligence procedures for MSME lending.  Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a BBC poll of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries stronly suggests. "The right to communicate cannot be ignored," Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC. "It is the most powerful source of enlightenment ever created."
Last June 3, 2011, the UN Human Rights Council declared that Internet access a fundamental human right. This confirmed that the Internet is “one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to information, and for facilitating active citizen participation in building democratic societies.” The UN declaration called on countries that control the digital dialog that: ”there should be as little restriction as possible to the flow of information via the Internet, except in few, exceptional, and limited circumstances prescribed by international human rights law.” The UN stressed, “the full guarantee of the right to freedom of expression must be the norm, and any limitation considered as an exception, and that this principle should never be reversed.” Likewise, the Report recognized that access to the Internet “facilitated economic development” and hammered home the simple truth that internet access protects other human rights.“ Unlike any other medium, |
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