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An online market linkage service provider, Ajemart, has renewed its drive to help local producers to seamlessly sell their goods and smile to the bank.
The firm is focusing on boosting the sagging growth in rural micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), in line with the state government’s resolution to make Osun friendly for investors.
The Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has said that MSMEs currently represent 96 per cent of the businesses in Nigeria and contributes 75 per cent of the national employment in the country. Thus, economic analysts believe that a steady growth in this sector positively affects the economy, which will help in curbing unemployment.
As technology advances, the rapid global adoption of Internet and e-commerce has offered great opportunity to promote inclusive development and an effective approach to fulfill UN’s 2015-2030 sustainable development goal.
As learnt, some policies of Osun State government are geared towards promoting locally made products. But while promoting these products, many of the producers end up producing without a market to sell the products. This is traceable to lack of adequate marketing skills and promotional activities.
To bridge this gap, Ajemart, through multi-stakeholders approach, closely liaises with the Osun State Government to break information bottlenecks with smooth on-line sales of rural-made products.
The project manager of Ajemart, Mr Clement Adebayo said as the purchasing power in Nigeria remains low, supporting local producers would ensure circular flow of income. He explained that those small businesses with increase in demand of their wares would be able to produce more with better turnover which will positively affect the economy of the state.
“Our involvement is for these sets of people to make more sales and employ more people. Ajemart, through its statewide productivity assessment, has been able to map all local governments in Osun according to their product competitiveness. Over 200 top producers in Osun, whose products are suitable for national inspiration in entrepreneurship, were identified,” he said.
Adebayo said in alignment with the commitment to building individuals who will stand on their own through the empowerment drive of Governor Gboyega Oyetola, the online platform charges no money for vendors to display their products.
The firm’s business development manager, Adebiyi Akintayo Samuel said the initiative has been able to create massive job opportunities for over 10, 000 Osun producers and sellers who have been identified, enumerated, verified and aggregated in different marketplaces.
He said that having identified marketing as the major challenge, Ajemart combines traditional products and digitization to provide convenience for the consumer. He added that his firm offers its own peculiarity in a way that the products for sale are from Osun traders.
“We have been able to bridge the gap between MSMEs and the market through the delivery of market assurance infrastructure like logistics services, packaging, offtake guarantee services, and marketplace services, among other solutions.
“We equip MSMEs with professional capabilities geared towards effective and sustainable poverty alleviation that only big enterprises can afford to build, by providing digital infrastructure, marketing promotions, and talent training.
“We have identified some of the local producers. And notable among them are the locally made clay water dispenser from Atamora, the locally made engine oil from Moye, and locally made nails among others. Some people don’t know that Osun is the second largest producer of cocoa after Ondo,” Samuel said.
A vendor at the Artist Village in Osun Grove, Mr. Femi Ogundipe, said members of the Art Village have been hawking their art products, have been going about to market their works themselves. He said that since Ajemart came into the picture the narrative has changed.
Another enlisted producer on the platform, Mr Kayode Afolabi, Managing Director of Agrikk Matas who doubles as President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Osun State Chapter, said that product exposure, innovations and collaborations were key for the growth of the MSME.
Ajemart’s Sellers’ operation manager, Olaniyan Shola, said with the platform, users can easily shop for agricultural products such as palm oil, fresh potatoes, fruits and more, as well as artefacts, building materials, traditional textiles materials, pottery and art works, office and home furniture among others.
“The package provides a unique opportunity for every local producer in Osun to make his or her products more visible and to easily expand the business.
“Besides meeting the need of the people of Osun, Ajemart aggregates sellers and links MSMEs in Osun to the global market by adopting technological and conventional marketing solutions,” he stated.
