SMEDAN Empowers 740 SMEs to Compete in African Continental Free Trade Area, (AFCFTA), With Branding and Packaging Training
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN is organizing a nationwide capacity-building program for 740 SMEs on Product Branding and Packaging.
The key objective is for Made in Nigeria products to become more competitive in the international market, within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AFCFTA.
The training program will take place in Owerri, Lagos, Abuja, Yola, Kano, and Benin with a total of 740 Small and Medium Enterprises to be empowered.
The MSMEs are the nucleus of the AFCFTA initiative which seeks to convene the most relevant and knowledgeable thought on improving packaging and branding techniques to develop new insight and perspectives on the key global systems and African common market, as well as the impact and governance of key emerging strategies and technologies for MSME development for the benefit of AFCFTA.
AFCFTA was created by African Union to establish a single continental market for goods and services., with free movement of business professionals and investments, ACCELERATING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE Continental Customs Union and the AFRICAN Customs Union and expanding intra- African Trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation African order to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level by exploiting opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME
The objective of training packaging and labeling for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) include:
1. To improve the capacity of MSMEs in Nigeria in the process of adding value to products to enhance sales.
2. To improve MSMEs access to the export market and platforms for knowledge sharing among global MSME agencies, and embassies, such as National Action Committee on AFCFTA to broaden and deepen the information flow for the competitiveness of MSMEs in AFCFTA.
3. To integrate MSMEs to take advantage of the AFCFTA market and beyond.
4. To enhance enterprise Networking and promote made-in-Nigeria goods and services.
5. Provide enhancement support for the beneficiaries.
6. To highlight the strong contribution of MSMEs worldwide to livelihood, communities & economics, and the need to support MSMEs towards their success.
7. To raise public awareness about the importance of MSMEs to economic growth and international development.
8. To advocate for and provide increased support for MSMEs.
9. To network and share knowledge & information among MSMEs.