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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Inuwa has said Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), if digitised, have the potential to contribute 53 billion USD to the nation’s economy. Inuwa said SMEs, which make up a huge percentage of businesses and economic growth in the country, will increase revenue by 26 per cent and reduce operating cost by 22 per cent when digitised.
A statement by the agency said the DG stated this while delivering an opening remark at TechMyBiz Pitch-A-Thon event in Lagos, which was jointly funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
According to the statement, the TechMyBiz Pitch-a-thon which is a process of selecting Digital Innovations in Africa started with a “Call for Digital Solutions” campaign, that offered a platform for many innovators, entrepreneurs and start-ups within the Nigerian ecosystem to register their already created digital solutions, from which 30 are expected to emerge as winners out of the 50 selected for the Pitch-a-thon event running from the 12th -14th July 2023.
Inuwa, at the event, explained that digitisation is about operational excellence, using technology as an enabler for business efficiency, more productivity, increased revenue and cost savings.
He said despite the available opportunities, there are challenges that need to be addressed in order to realise the potential of digital transformation in SMEs.
“Firstly, we need to create innovation-friendly conditions in our country in terms of enabling policies and laws, government services, ease of doing business, and so on.”
“Secondly, we need to have support organisations — platform that will assist to digitise MSMEs for innovation hubs around the country to incubate ideas, because innovation is a process of taking an idea from inception to impact. That means you can have an idea, and you can be innovative, but that is not enough, you need to commercialise your ideas.”
