SMEDAN, SEC plan funding for small businesses .

Aruna Oteh SEC DG

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have begun talks on how to fund Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have begun talks on how to fund Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

A statement from SMEDAN given to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday said the two agencies were working on reviving the capital market option for proper funding of SMEs. Signed by Levi Anyikwa, assistant director (Corporate Affairs) of the agency, the statement said that Daisy Ekineh, executive commissioner (Operations) of SEC, made the announcement when she visited SMEDAN.

The statement quoted Ekineh as saying that the commission knew that economies were actually grown by SMEs which had access to bank credit.

``SEC is where to raise fund. We want to collaborate with SMEDAN to see what we can do to eliminate these financial constraints on the creation, operation and expansion of viable and sustainable development of SMEs,’’ it quoted her as saying. According to the statement, there is the need to have a baseline statistics on SMEs as well as an SME rating scheme that will aid the development of the sector. (NAN)