Despite the immense benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, the Nigerian private sector has lamented that many trade restrictions and logistics challenges have been hampering the country from harnessing the potential of the trade agreement, Oluwakemi Abimbola reports
SMEDAN boss: MSMEs clusters to boost competitiveness, export drive today.ng - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from today.ng Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
James Emejo in Abuja
The Director-General/Chief Executive, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, has assured that its furniture cluster park, currently under construction at the Industrial Development Centre (IDC), Idu, Abuja, will on completion in 2021, enhance the competitiveness of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the country and boost efforts to diversify the economy.
He pointed out that by design, clusters provide economies of scale by having shared infrastructure and common facility for small businesses, adding that this will have spill off effects on other enterprises.
Speaking during a facility tour of the Furniture Cluster Park Radda said, the project was conceived by the agency in 2017 to among other things, provide a favourable environment for furniture entrepreneurs to thrive.