ICECD now to train Small and Medium Enterprises of Nigeria

Ahmedabad, Aug 6 (UNI) After reaching out to more than 50 developing countries across the globe, the ICECD (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development), based in Ahmedabad has partnerered now with The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to provide entrepreneurship programmes.

ICECD, pioneer in developing and implementing need based training modules since the last 22 years, has strived for developing entrepreneurial capability amongst the people to make them capable of supporting their small businesses. Considering the need to facilitate SME development in Africa, SMEDAN has partnered with the ICECD to train their officers in fostering entrepreneurship programmes in Nigeria for men and women to remove unemployment through Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development.

The first such training programme would commence at ICECD, Ahmedabad, in the month of October 2008, where the senior officials of SMEDAN, BDSP (Business Development Services Programme) officials and other state officials would get trained at the ICECD campus in Ahmedabad for attending a specially designed need-based programme on SME Development.

Director ICECD Hina Shah, said ''Entrepreneurship training and business development activities focus on the need to develop government and other non government organizations working towards facilitating quick programmes to increase SME development. However in Nigeria, there is a need for systematic, focussed education for the organisations. A large number of support organisations are providing business development services like product details, finance, export promotion and marketing support, but there are no takers, as people lack entrepreneurial spirit. This pirit needs to be ignited through the right motivation.'' Through this training, the officials would gain from ICECD's experience in SME Development in India and other developing countries of Asia, Africa and the Pacific areas, and replicate the same in Nigeria to trigger further development and growth of the SMEs, she added.

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