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By Paul Nwosu
The march towards greater industrialization of Anambra State got another remarkable boost recently when the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, inaugurated the first shared facilities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are into leather processing and shoe manufacturing in Ogbunike, Anambra State. Located beside the vibrant Ogbunike shoe market cluster that has over 2,000 stores and 30,000 MSMEs , ainly in the footwear business, the shared facilities are a collaborative project between the federal and Anambra State governments. They offer the most modern digital shoe production facilities that could be shared by MSMEs from the contiguous market cluster and around the South East. The business plan has been so structured to avail these categories of businesses the use of cutting-edge technology in shoe production and leather processing, which they could not have been able to afford on individual basis. With such facilities in place, footwear merchants no longer have the need to travel to Spain, Italy and China to make and import quality footwear, as the Ogbunike shared facilities have the capacity to churn out whatever design and quality of footwear the local entrepreneurs may come up with.
Prior to the initiative, the Ogbunike shoe cluster produced between 200 to 400 shoes monthly using the old-fashioned technique that was slow and tedious. But the shared facilities have a drastically improved capacity to produce 96,000 shoe soles, 44,000 slippers, 40,000 shoes and 22,000 boots monthly for both genders of all age brackets. This automatically translates to a huge business boom for the shoe market cluster around it and beyond as they could easily avail themselves the use of the modern shoe-producing technology to leapfrog their outputs and commence export of their products.
To ensure greater ease of doing business, bearing in mind the smallness of the enterprises in question, the Ogbunike shared facilities incorporate a ‘one-stop-shop’ where all the relevant support services and regulatory agencies are housed under one roof to avail them, without having to travel long distances, other necessary ancillary services that every modern business requires to be viable and grow exponentially. Some of these institutions include the Bank of Industry to provide single-digit loans, and MSME clinics to provide spot-on professional solutions to the many challenges that MSMEs face.
The Raw Material Research and Development Council also has a desk to offer advisory on raw material sourcing and development, while the Corporate Affairs Commission is there to register new businesses so that they can be recognized by law. Others are the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to facilitate the obvious export potential of the shared facilities, as well as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria to ensure quality control of what is being produced. Periodic training is necessary for operatives, so, the Industrial Training Fund is there to engage in the training and retraining of operatives to ensure they are familiar with best global practices in managing their businesses. Then Federal Inland Revenue Services will collect taxes on behalf of government, while Anambra State Small Business Agency (ASBA), Anambra home-grown small business facilitator, has also pitched a tent there to oversee its clients who are the main beneficiaries of the project.
Describing the facilities as a milestone, Vice-President Osinbajo noted that, by the time the Second Niger Bridge, which is 65 per cent completed, and the eventual concession of the Onitsha Inland Port is finalised, Anambra State and indeed the South East would truly become a strategic industrial zone and trade hub in the country. And when you combine these with the Anambra State International Cargo Airport, Umueri (two kilometres away), you begin to appreciate Governor Willie Obiano’s foresight in building the airport. Whatever is produced at the shared facilities and indeed other productive clusters around the state can now be exported through the cargo airport.
As the curtain gradually draws on Gov. Obiano’s successful two terms, the shared facilities are yet another manifestation of a well-thought-out policy blueprint in the life of his administration, which recognises commerce and industry as major development pillars, among others. And this he aggressively pursued by encouraging micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurship, being the vocational mainstay of Anambra State’s people.
Drawing from his rich banking experience, he set up Anambra State Small Business Agency (ASBA) in 2014, knowing that a virile MSME sector constitutes the engine room for a veritable economic development. This is more so in Anambra State where the potentialities are waiting to be tapped. ASBA stood up to the challenge and has so far acquitted itself creditably.
The agency took off with N2 billion credit facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria; N1 billion for micro businesses and the other N1 billion for small and medium-scale businesses, at one-digit interest. In measurable terms, ASBA successfully funded 10,000 cooperatives, micro enterprises and artisans, and also provided operating capital to 300 small and medium-scale enterprises in the state, turning Anambra into the fastest growing sub-national economy in the country.
Brands like the famous “Anambra Rice,” which won the award of “Best Rice in Africa” in 2015, and other promising ventures were funded by ASBA. It is on record that 100 per cent of all the disbursed loans have since walked back to CBN with the accrued interests. In recognition of these and the consequent rise of Anambra State as a major industrial domain in the country, the Federal Government honoured the state with an award for being the “Best State in Support of SMEs” in August 2019.
The economic benefits of the Ogbunike shared facilities complex for leather processing and shoe production cannot be overemphasized. Anambra State youths have no reason to be restive, as the project is poised to create jobs and thousands of small businesses, which would impact hugely on the state’s GDP.
•Sir Nwosu wrote from Atani, Ogbaru LGA
