Lagos State government has, through the State Employment Trust Fund, approved N4.5billion for 5,527 Medium Small Manufacturing Enterprises (MSMEs) in the last one year, the state Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said yesterday

The governor spoke at the opening ceremony of the second  edition of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Exclusive fair, with: Unleashing the Potentials of MSMEs for Economic Diversification as theme.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello, he said the Fund, in partnership with the UNDP and private sector employers, will also train 16,000 unemployed Lagosians in order to take up technical and vocational jobs.

“The state government would launch innovation driven enterprise framework to support business startups in the fourth quarter of this year,” he said.

He reiterated the commitment of the government to continually implement enterprise-friendly policies and develop the critical infrastructure that would enhance the productivity and competitiveness of all businesses in the State.

“We will continue to support the growth of MSMEs and make concerted efforts to develop enterprise cluster parks especially the Imota Light Industrial Park,” Ambode said.

He said the theme of this year throws a challenge to all players, both public and private which is that everyone must look inwards and develop the internal and external capacities of the local non-oil MSME for steady growth and global competitiveness.

According to him, the four-day  fair would match-up the local small-scale industrial giants with business development support providers,  investors from the private sector, public regulatory support agencies at the state, federal as well as the foreign economic development institutions.

He said despite the contributions of the MSME sector to the Lagos economy, the sector’s competitiveness is weakened by limited access to credible, customised-business support.