Beneficiaries of Enugu State Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) have relayed their experiences in the well-thought-out and innovative programmes of the Enugu SMEs Centre, under Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration, describing them as “fulfilling, unique and edifying.”
The beneficiaries said that “those of us who have gone through one or two of the Enugu SMEs Centre’s programmes are amazed by the creative ingenuity of the handlers and the sheer productivity and achievements of the state government through the agency’s interventions.”
Painstakingly listing the intervention programmes of Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration through the Enugu SMEs Centre in impacting the lives of the youths as business owners and emerging entrepreneurs in the state, the beneficiaries told Governor Ugwuanyi who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Enugu North Senatorial District in the forthcoming general election that they are firmly behind his senatorial bid and that of other PDP candidates in the state in appreciation of his good works in the SMEs sector and beyond.
Speaking when a delegation from Enugu North Senatorial District visited Governor Ugwuanyi at the Government House, Enugu, to express gratitude and present their businesses to the governor as a testimony to the state government’s laudable interventions in the SMEs sector, the State Coordinator of Beneficiaries of Enugu SMEs Programmes (BESMEP), Prince-Will Ugwu, stated that the beneficiaries “have become core crusaders of the Ugwuanyi senatorial agenda due to your direct impact in their lives.”
Ugwu disclosed that Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration through the Enugu SMEs Centre headed by the governor’s Special Adviser on SMEs Development, Hon. Arinze Chilo-Offiah, initiated a sustained and radical transformation that ensured that Enugu youths are equipped with 21st century high income skills that provide pathways to employability and entrepreneurship development.
The Coordinator added that the governor’s administration instituted the innovative Human Capital Development Loan, “a zero interest loan to enable unemployed and underemployed to access technical and professional training with job access or entrepreneurship support upon completion.”
Ugwu highlighted that the programmes the Enugu SMEs Centre was consummated to include the “Enugu Tech, a certified training on Programming and Product Design, preparing our youths for globally sought-after tech skills; Enugu Youth Empowerment Scheme, a certified training in high income digital marketing skills; Enugu Cybersecurity Learning Programme (EDAT), a certified training programme on globally relevant cybersecurity skills as a means to combat poverty, cybercrime and unemployment; Enugu Data Analytics Training Programme (ECSL) that trained Ndi Enugu youths on core Data Analytics competencies delivered through a project-based learning approach that provides a solid post-training path to encourage the participants to become fast-rising data talents for both local and global organisations; Enugu SMEs Construction Artisan Training Programme that provided youths with high demand construction skills for employment upon completion; and the Enugu Auto Revamp Innovation Training Programme (AITP) that provided comprehensive training in all aspects of auto body work including auto painting, surface prepping, metal works, interior finishing among others.”
Other accomplishments, according to him, were the “Enugu Jobs initiated in partnership with private sector players like Capitis Global and Jobberman Nigeria to provide a job portal for Ndi Enugu to get access to jobs here in Enugu and outside Enugu; Enugu Wi-Fi project, a Municipal Wireless Network, offered by independent data resellers deployed in Enugu State, Nigeria, that is a low-cost paid secure Wi-Fi connection sponsored by Enugu State government, through the Enugu SMEs Centre; Enugu SMEs Hardware Garage Training (ESHG) Programme which provided the youths with first-hand technical knowledge in building of inverters, installation of smart solar home systems, and the general operations and maintenance of power, mobility manufacturing, computer-controlled systems, and agricultural technologies.”
Speaking further, the BESMEP Coordinator said: “Your Excellency, we cannot end the long list of your achievements through the SMEs Centre without talking about the Access to Capital Programmes, such as the Enugu SMEs Business Support Cash Advance Programme and the Enugu Micro Credit Lending Programme, which helped to resolve the number one problem of entrepreneurs – availability of capital.
“Your Excellency, we have painstakingly listed all the intervention programmes of your administration through the SMEs so that every man of good will, who believes in the saying that the reward for good work is more work will see reason to align their thoughts with ours, that the senatorial bid of Governor Ugwuanyi should not for any reason be up for contest. We have not just been saying it; we have been deliberate about our actions to assert it.
“Those of us who are not from Enugu North Senatorial District are mobilising and even sponsoring our friends from the North to ensure that they all procure their PVC to vote for you (Ugwuanyi), the PDP governorship candidate in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, his running mate, Barr. Ifeanyi Ossai, and other PDP candidates in the State.”