By Stanley Opara

Wednesday, 24 Nov 2010

Diamond Bank Plc has advised entrepreneurs to seek avenues for capacity building.

It also pledged to increase its supports for the development and growth of Micro, Small and Medium scale enterprises in the country.

The Executive Director Corporate Banking, Diamond Bank, Mr. Uzoma Dozie, said that development of SMEs was not about lending but about knowledge sharing and skill acquisition.

He spoke at a dinner organised by the bank in honour of 50 entrepreneurs and their spouses who were participants at the Building Entrepreneurs Today programme sponsored by the bank at the Enterprise Development Centre of the Lagos Business School.

In a statement by the bank on Tuesday, he was quoted as saying, “The bane of SMEs in Nigeria is not only about access to funding but on the issue of knowledge gap. Many of them lack basic business training and requisite skills to grow their respective businesses.

“It is an open secret that SME is a catalyst for economic development of any nation. I am using this opportunity to urge entrepreneurs to seek ways of upgrading their knowledge on their business and other capacity building opportunities. Taking such steps is a sure way of gaining strong footing in their businesses.”

Dozie further said Diamond Bank does not only lend to the sector, but goes the extra mile to ensure that those who play in the sector acquire the necessary knowledge and skills that would take them to the next level.

Highlighting some of the bank’s initiatives in support of enterprises, Dozie explained that a good number of MSMEs in Nigeria die early because they lacked requisite knowledge on business dynamics.

He said, ”That was why we came up with this BET programme initiative in partnership with EDC of the Pan-African University. The programme is one of our Corporate Social Responsibility projects on Business Education and forms part of Diamond Bank‘s efforts to increase the capacity and enhance the growth potentials of Nigerian entrepreneurs.

“Thus, the programme is aimed at encouraging interest in entrepreneurship which is the bedrock for any substantial economic growth of a nation.”

 

Source: Punch