Create regional economic integration and convergence – SME expert

4th and 5th from left: Kalada Apiafi (chairman of Wider Perspectives) and Edughom Hanson (CEO of Wider Perspectives) with other directors and special guests

…Stakeholders in PH urge government to use SMEs as vehicles of economic diversification

The federal government has been urged to encourage regional economic integration and convergence as a new way of promoting the economy.

The call was made in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at the Annual SME Conference held at L.A Kings event centre where promoters of micro, small, medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) and agencies and groups that manage their affairs came together to review their progress.

The conference was mounted by Wider Perspectives group which celebrated the 10 years of the SME Conference series in Bayelsa, Abia, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states.

In her welcome address, Edughom Hanson, an SME expert with huge doctoral research work on business management, who is the managing director of Wider Perspectives, made it clear that there is great need for regional economic integration and convergence.

She said there is a lot each region can do together, saying each state standing alone in creating business environment and in promoting businesses is not the best. She said create value and scale are the best ways to create hubs for SMEs including attracting finance, labour, tax environment, etc.

Hanson said the target policy for SMEs should be to achieve high level of scalability for each enterprise. She seemed to preach the China model where government gives incentives and targets to SMES to grow and scale up so they can employ specific number of new workers, pay more taxes, and create more wealth, all to boost the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.

To achieve this, well-travelled entrepreneurs and experts said on the sideline of the conference that most countries give loans and grants to help SMEs scale up and diversify.

Hanson also called on Nigeria to look to SMEs if the country truly wanted to achieve economic diversification. “The nation has to be deliberate about using SMEs to achieve diversification.”

The expert, who is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), said economic development is related to economic growth. “There can be no economic development without economic growth.”

She said Wider Perspectives group created the conference series to fight the cause of SMEs in the BAAR states of Bayelsa, Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers. She explained that the activities are before, during, and after the conference each year. “We continue the advocacy and grooming tasks of SMEs even after the conference. We keep addressing the needs of businesses even after each year’s conference.”

Hanson regretted that many entrepreneurs hardly participate in government schemes because people do not believe in government intervention schemes, probably due to many years of failed promises.

The CEO made a call urging any person who had any role to support SMEs to take it seriously. She said this is to help promote SMEs. She said the high rate of death of businesses is not good for the economy.

“Each time a business fails, dream is aborted, hardship is created, some marriages crash, some children drop out of school, government loses revenue, jobs are lost. That is why supporting SMEs and helping them to scale up is a sacred duty to the society. The report of 60% about SMEs is poor. We need change because that is the segment where the youths play their own role.”

In his address, Kalada Apiafi, chairman of Wider Perspectives group, who has plaid deep in the SME segment, and who is termed the ‘SME Visioner’, narrated how people like him fought the war for SME growth for years.

He said advocacy works, saying it has led to many transformations in the SME value chain. He said the tax reform came from years of advocacy.

He encouraged groups to keep fighting for change because it would happen. He said attitude more than infrastructure is the bane of SMEs. He said a tailor in other countries do their best to sew exactly what the client wanted and deliver on the day of appointment, whereas it may not be so in most cities in Nigeria where many persons have abandoned dresses to tailors.

Chinyere Nwoga, president of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), who was represented by Emeka Ezekwe (head of the professional trade group), said the City Chamber is fully behind the Wider Perspectives group.

She said the PHCCIMA has stood for SMEs firmly over the years and linked them to business opportunities as an advocacy entity.

In his own goodwill message, Chamberlain Peterside, CEO of Excellon Capital who is the suspended Director-General of the Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency (RIPA), said state of emergency did not stop businesses from going on. He said the state has since launched its ‘One-Stop-Shop’ centre (virtual for now) to help businesses set up properly.

He said SME are very important in any economy and that RIPA prioritises them. Other speakers such as officials from Rivers State Micro Finance Agency (RIMA) and bank of Industry (BOI) supported the position of the RIPA boss and said business must go on in Rivers State. Those from BOI said Rivers people were yet to exhaust their share of loans in the bank.

In his keynote, Ebiekure Jasper Eradiri, President of All Africa Association of SMEs, announced a new definition of what an SME is, saying the definition given by the colonial masters, which what he said the banks and lending institutions are using, has failed Africa.

He said the new definition considers the strength of borrowers in Africa and their talents and skills so that wealth can be created faster.

The conference recognized organisations that have supported the SME project in the past 10 years, with BusinessDay Media Limited (South-South/East zone) standing out with an award.