The Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry Trade and Investments and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are working on the modalities of how to facilitate better access to venture capital in the country.

The Director-General of SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh, disclosed this while speaking at the Rivers State Investors’ Forum, which took place in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last week.

Venture capital could be described as money invested in start-up companies to help them get off the ground. While there are many opportunities for small scale firms, prospective promoters of such firms, most times find it difficult to have access to the needed fund such as venture capital.

However, speaking on how to make funding available for entrepreneurs, Oteh said  venture capital is an area that would soon become very active, stating that the Ministries of Finance and of Trade and Investments, and the Commission, were working on package  in that regard.

According to her, for now the capital market remains the best source of medium to long-term funding that could be used to finance infrastructural projects across the country. She urged the Federal and state governments to continue patronising the capital market to raise bonds for the financing of infrastructure.

Oteh noted that investments being made by the FG and state governments in infrastructure and education now would yield good dividends in the good dividends in the years to come.

She said that SEC would always ensure that funds raised by the governments or companies from the capital would be used for the reasons for which they were raised.

The SEC boss restated the Commission’s commitment to a world-class capital market that could be compared with any market in the world.

Oteh recently disclosed that the apex regulator had in the past 22 months invested significant resources in catalysing its transition of the nation’s capital market to a world class one.

According to her, the Commission undertook a diagnostic review of the capital market and had been implementing reforms in line with the recommendations of that review.

“Consequently, we have improved our enforcement regime. This has resulted in higher levels of compliance and reduced improprieties. We have strengthened market rules and regulation with the introduction of new rules and the amendment of existing ones. One of such is the introduction of margin guidelines designed to curb excessive risk taking by operators,” she said.

She added that the Commission had undertaken a review of its internal structures to improve efficiency and service delivery.

“We have also committed resources to enhancing our processes through fortification of our Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) platform in the areas of Registration, Returns Rendition and Analytics. To address knowledge gaps, we continue to invest in capacity building initiatives for SEC Staff, operators and the general public,” Oteh declared.

Source: ThisDay/Goddy Egene