MSMEs in Nigeria has grown to 41.543 million in 2017, according to the National Survey of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The 2017 National Survey of MSMEs covered enterprises in Nigeria employing below 200 persons, which are MSMEs and was conducted in all the 36 states of the federation and Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Here Is A Further Break Down And The Implication Of This Number
- The figures represent micro, small and medium scale businesses as at December 2017.
- Nigeria had about 37 million MSME in 2013. The 41 million MSME number shows an increase of three million new MSMEs.
- The statistics came from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which launched the National Survey of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) 2017 yesterday in Lagos.
- The survey also showed that micro enterprises which employed less than 10 employees stood at 41.469 million, representing 99.8 percent, small enterprises employ 10 to 45 staff, 71,288 or 0.17 percent, while Medium enterprises with 50 to 199 staff were 1,793 or 0.004 percent.
- According to the report, micro and small medium enterprises increased during the period under review, but medium scale enterprises dropped, which can be attributed to the economic recession the country witnessed in 2017.
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Where Are The Businesses Most Located?
From the statistics, most of the businesses are located in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest commercial city. While Lagos State had the highest numbers of enterprises across all classes, only three states, Katsina (36.4 percent), Rivers (21.7 percent) and Kaduna (18.l percent) recorded significant increases in enterprise numbers.
“There is a need for the government to pay a lot of attention to micro businesses because they have the largest share of employment, contributed to GDP growth and have the opportunity to create more jobs. During the period micro business grew to 41 million and if we can get half of them to produce one job, we will have 20 million jobs created, which is significant,” the director-general of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Umaru Radda, said.
The survey which was supposed to be released in the fourth quarter of last year was delayed as a result of the election, according to the Statistician General of the Federation/CEO NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) set up in 2003, was Nigeria’s government’s major response to tackling the problems of MSMEs in a coordinated fashion.
The MSME sub-sector has huge potential and the government should pay more attention to them than on large organization, by initiating friendly government policy in the sub-sector.
The Implication of This Figure
The figure above is so important that businesses would need to begin to readjust their strategies in order to remain in business.
With over 41 million businesses in Nigeria serving a population of over 200 million, compared the United States’ 30 million small businesses serving a population of 327.2 million, this is a significant number, in terms of competition for loans, scramble for people with buying power and other limited resources. It would boost the economy, no doubt, but businesses should begin to look at more creativity in order to retain their existence. Of course, most of the small businesses may only be existing on paper. But until that is proved, the figures still remain the facts.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.