In view of the critical roles digitalisation and technology play in optimising the operation of businesses in the 21st century, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE has averred that digitising the Nation’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will drive the needed sustainable economic growth.

The DG made this known in Abuja while delivering a Keynote Address on the theme: “Digital Nigeria – Leveraging Technology to Improve Ease of Doing Business for MSMES” at the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) 2023 Annual Lecture series.

Inuwa who noted that technology innovation is occurring at an exponential pace and businesses are increasingly recognising and leveraging technology for growth, quoted a 2020 PwC MSME survey which states that MSMES account for about 96% of all businesses in Nigeria; contribute 49% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and employ 84% of the country’s workforce.

The DG took his audience through the process of starting a business, stressing that technology has helped the government to provide an easy way for anyone to register a business from anywhere, within 24 hours, which he said is quite unlike the past when one would need to travel to Abuja from states for the same purpose.

“As a government we have the responsibility to carry everyone along, especially when it comes to inclusivity or access to digital infrastructure, it is no longer a privilege but a necessity”.

“With the way we are increasingly using systems to make decisions and a whole lot of things, there is need to carry every along as we cannot afford to be left behind in Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.”, Inuwa maintained.

According to him, “we are rounding off with legal framework that will make it easier for investors to come and invest in digital public infrastructure because this will make it a lot easier for SMEs would aid automation of governance”.

“Nigeria has the largest vibrant tech ecosystem in Africa as the country is leading so far in unicorn counts on the continent with five of the seven known unicorns originating in Nigeria”, Inuwa said.

The sustenance of NIgeria’s economy, Inuwa stressed, relies heavily on enterprises, given the the fact the trajectory of customer satisfaction, advertising and payment are results of the increased attention turned to digitalisation in today’s businesses.

“MSMEs that have embraced digitalisation and technology tend to fare better and that underscores a study done in Turkey which shows that 41.2% of 131 SMEs underwent technological innovations and this led to an operational efficiency of 96.9%”

“With the power of technology, you start small but in the long run, you will definitely grow exponentially, if you continue to add value to your business, of course”, the DG avowed.

While painting a picture of what the MSMEs in Nigeria could add to the country’s GDP through digitisation, the Director-General appealed to the Development Bank of Nigeria to also consider giving Startups access to funds as they do MSMEs, adding that the two are basically the same, with the only difference being their nomenclatures.

“If all SMEs in Nigeria can digitise today, we can add $60 Billion by just leveraging technology and recent research has shown that any MSME that transformed digitally could increase its revenue by 26% and reduce costs by 22%”, the DG assured.

The NITDA Boss who highlighted and explained the seven points Strategic Roadmap Pillars of the Agency, said the Federal Government is committed to digitally transforming the economy.

“Today, we collaborate more with western countries than our neighbours, this shows that we are the next frontier when it comes to digital economy”, Inuwa said.

Inuwa harped on the need to foster collaborations with key development partners and build strong institutions so as to deliver and execute all the digital visions in Nigeria, maintaining that the focus of the digital vision remains to uplift Nigeria through digital transformation and innovation.

“Start-ups and MSMES are the engine room for digital transformation and innovation, therefore, I want to encourage DBN to keep up the good work and to also receive the need to include tech startups in all your funding schemes”, Inuwa concluded.

Earlier in his welcome speech, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Development Bank of Nigeria, Dr Tony Okpanachi, alluded to the fact that the discovery of the internet and its impact on human interaction and commerce have changed the dynamics of human coexistence, as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social platforms which started as a means of interaction between people now have commercial and advertising nodes to them, promoting not just social exchange, but also fulfilling an economic need through hyperlinking, interactivity and multimodality.

Dr Okpanachi disclosed that although internet penetration is still at 55.4% in Nigeria, according to DataReportal’s report, which suggests that there were 122.5 million internet users in Nigeria in January 2023, there is a strong need to plot how extant technology, and the new upcoming ones can be used to shore up the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria which sits at 131 out of 190 economies, on the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Rank.

“While issues like security, and poor infrastructure have bedeviled the country for so long, the country must look to other means that transcend these major roadblocks, one of which is technology, and a digitised business environment”.

“MSMEs in Nigeria play a crucial role in economic growth, poverty reduction, employment creation, as well as shared wealth creation and by leveraging technology within their operations, companies can improve their efficiencies, which is one of the roadblocks to doing business in Nigeria”, Dr Okpanachi noted.

The CEO affirmed that the DBN’s Annual Lecture Series is a platform that advocates for MSME financing in Nigeria, and leads the conversation on how technology can drive innovation, resilience, and profitability for MSMEs.

The fourth DBN Annual Lecture hybrid event marked the bank’s 6th anniversary and to celebrate the milestone, the Bank’s Lecture featured speakers drawn from a range of subject matter expertise, comprising public sector, academia, development economics, financial services, and entrepreneurship.

The event also featured keynotes and panel sessions, where the facilitators shared their perspectives on how to drive sustainable business growth with technology that adapts to a green economy.

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TECHDIGEST – As SMEs make up a huge percentage of businesses and economic growth, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, FNCS has said that digitisation of MSMEs will increase revenue by 26 percent as well as reduce operating cost by 22 percent, and contribute 53b USD to the Nigerian economy.

Inuwa stated this while delivering an opening remark at TechMyBiz Pitch-A-Thon event in Lagos held at the Digital Transformation Center Nigeria (DTC Nigeria), which was jointly funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The TechMyBiz Pitch-a-thon which is a process of selecting Digital Innovations in Africa started with a “Call for Digital Solutions” campaign, that offered a platform for many innovators, entrepreneurs and startups within the Nigerian ecosystem to register their already created digital solutions, from which 30 are expected to emerge as winners out of the 50 selected for the Pitch-a-thon event running from the 12th -14th July 2023.

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The DG noted that, digitisation is about operational excellence, using technology as an enabler for business efficiency, more productivity, increased revenue and cost savings,” he said.

He said despite the available opportunities, there are challenges that need to be addressed in order to realise the potential of digital transformation in SMEs.
“Firstly, we need to create innovation-friendly conditions in our country in terms of enabling policies and laws, government services, ease of doing business, and so on.”

“Secondly, we need to have support organisations — platform that will assist to digitise MSMEs for innovation hubs around the country to incubate ideas, because innovation is a process of taking an idea from inception to impact that means you can have an idea, and you can be innovative, but that is not enough, you need to commercialise your ideas.”

“Then we need the infrastructure, this is important to MSMEs, but Africa is lacking in digital public infrastructure. Digital public infrastructure is beyond having connectivity and access to computers. The Second Industrial Revolution was about massive production which requires enabling infrastructure for transportation, but today we are in the fourth Industrial Revolution, which is about digital services, therefore, we need the required infrastructure to aid digital services.”

“Lastly, is the challenge of digital skills and literacy. The digital offerings require digitally literate consumers to benefit from the services, therefore there is the need to enlighten and educate the populace to acquire digital literacy skills, ” he said.
Quoting the DG of SMEDAN, Inuwa reiterated that MSMEs contribute to 96 percent of businesses, 83 percent of the workforce and 43 percent of the nation’s GDP. “With digital technology SMEs can have an exponential growth transformation that will upscale businesses.”

In his conclusion, he expanded on the need to have a digital sovereignty through adequate infrastructure, adding that the Nigerian government through NITDA is implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) to promote in-country skills to address these challenges.

“The Start-up Act, if fully implemented, will address all these challenges, in policy development, friendly environment, enabling infrastructure, innovation clusters around the country and many more.”

“This form of engagement, places the continent on the right track and together we can build the kind of environment, infrastructure, and the required skills we need to accelerate digitisation in Nigeria,” he affirmed.

Others in attendance were, Mr Markus Wauschkuhn, Coordinator Commission Social policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC); Technical Lead Evaluation Expert Charles Emembolu; representatives of the European Union(EU); ISN Board; and other industry experts.

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TECHDIGEST- More than 22 institutions in the country, comprising 18 universities, and six polytechnics, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), drawn evenly from the six geopolitical zones in the country, have benefited from a Federal Government’s broadband infrastructure projects designed to accelerate the Nigeria Digital Economy efforts.

At the recent unveiling of the initiatives being led by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Abuja, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, who presided over the event, stated that the initiatives highlight the significance of broadband connectivity.

According to a formal statement by the ministry’s director of public affairs, Reuben Muoka, the project is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives on economic diversification and job creation, and broadband access is essential to achieving the goals of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020–2030 for a digital Nigeria.

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Pantami revealed that the project’s key infrastructure includes broadband infrastructure for MSME, broadband infrastructure for tertiary institutions of learning, distribution of 6,000 e-pad tablets, and provision of broadband connectivity to 20 markets as a pilot. Pantami was joined at the event by Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Mohammed Bello.

According to him, the interest in assisting MSMEs is justified by the fact that they currently account for 96.7% of all businesses in Nigeria and contributed more than 50% of the GDP before the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, he claimed, “any effort to develop our economy without bringing such important sector into the equation will amount to efforts in futility.”

A book written by Pantami titled “Skills Rather Than Just Degrees” with a foreword written by Brad Smith, President of Microso, was released at the event, which was attended by the Chairman of the Board of the NCC, Prof. Adeolu Akande; the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta; the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC); and the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

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TECHDIGEST – The Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) is estimated to be at over 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria and contributes over 50% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with respect to job creation and national development.

Despite the scale at which the Micro Small and Medium enterprises is contributing to the growth and development of the economy especially as the population of Nigeria continues to increase exponentially. Some of the gaps in the Micro Small and Medium sectors are as follows

Lack of structure

Most MSMEs fail in their first few years of starting out because they lack structures such as employment and human resources policies, budget for advertising, and maintaining unique brand. The lack of these essentials makes the organization to only serve their immediate environment which comes with a lot of risk factors as expansion would become difficult, most especially to locations where the products or services are needed, but without the needed standard, reaching other markets would not be achievable as there are expectations from these prospects which the organization might not be able to meet up with.

Low Online Visibility

Most MSMEs across Nigeria are not visible online, and with the emergence of new markets, the internet has become a tool to aid e-commerce from any part of the world. One of the key tools to increase online visibility are a website and social media platforms, these tools aid communication when prospects search online for a need. The key to maximizing sales is to increase online visibility through the techniques in digital market to gain entry into new markets.

Lack of proper financial records

The MSME sector still operates with minimal information with respect to financial records, so as to monitor the income and expenditure which determines the range of profitability. Inability to utilize tools for keeping proper financial records as a result of focus on production and operations by MSME owners could lead to bankruptcy as measuring the healthiness of the business per time becomes unknown.

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Other gaps are high cost of rent, access to finance, double taxation, unstable electricity, difficulty in getting skilled workforce etc.

The opportunities in the MSME sector are enormous and fosters huge contribution, some of these opportunities are

Job creation and wealth generation

Job creation has been the major challenge of most administrations in Nigeria, as they strive to make the citizens prosperous by gainful employment. The support MSMEs provides reaches every strata of the economy as a breadwinner now has economic ability to support their family or dependents and this done multiple times and consistently by different entrepreneurs is a building block for economic prosperity.

Creating a potentially stable economy

The covid-19 pandemic and aftermath of the recession due to drop in the prices of oil has led to hardship for many, however with the MSME sector empowered with financing, it aids to cushion the effect of economic hardship and serves as a buffer for economic recovery.

Export Potential

The export potential of any nation demands that its economy is first involved in production for self-sufficiency, the leverage from being a producing economy now creates the opportunity to export physical, human and material resources. Nigeria’s potential to maximizing proceeds from export entails capacity building in order to meet-up with the expected standards and procedures of other nations. The effect of our activities around export can be seen in the remittances made from diaspora, which creates a sustainable economy.

Emmanuel Otori has over 9 years of experience working with 100 start-ups and SMEs across Nigeria. He has worked on the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project of the World Bank, GiZ, Consulted for businesses at the Abuja Enterprise Agency, Novustack, Splitspot and NITDA. He is the Chief Executive Officer at Abuja Data School.

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TECHDIGEST – The recent crash in the cost of .ng domain name by NiRA, coupled with the enforcement of the use of .ng as the official communication channel for all MDAs by the federal government, are all geared towards populating .ng domain name in Nigeria, writes Emma Okonji

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), this year, approved the National Policy on the Nigerian Government Second-Level Domains during its meeting on the 16th of February, 2022 and thus barred its workers from the use of generic domains, with a bid to enforce the use of .ng domain name across all MDAs of government.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) followed up with the directive by recently inaugurating a 14-man enforcement committee to monitor the policy implementation across all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) both at the state and federal levels.

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However, the February 2022 declaration is not the first by the FEC, leaving many people astonished as to why, after six years , the Nigeria government is still advocating for compliance regarding the local .ng domain name.

Should it be regarded as ignorance or sheer sabotage that a diplomat for example, would issue a call card which contains a .com, or .co.uk, email address? It may very well be that Nigeria’s top public officials are not aware of the use of gov.ng in their ministries. One is left wondering how long it will be, to obtain full compliance to the new policy.

It is surprising that a country with 141,971,560 active internet users in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, has less than 200,000 .ng domains to both local and international owners. The statistics baffles many Nigerians, especially when compared with the number of .co.za domains, which is the domain name for South Africa that has been pushed out to the world, and it is in full use in South Africa and in many other African countries.

Most analysts have raised questions as to why many Nigerians have refused to use .ng domains. Who is to blame? Is it that Nigerians are

thinking that the. ng is not good enough or they just do not understand its importance to national brand? Nigerians probably need some sort of government policies to make it somewhat compulsory for individuals and businesses to adopt the use of .ng domain name.

One of the analysts who is a registrar of .ng domain name, said: “If you try to convince some people to switch to .ng, a vast majority of the people would give all sorts of reasons why they do not use .ng and many of these reasons are simply based on assumptions or hearsay and not facts.

According to the registrar, “It is important to stress that the foundation of any sustainable development especially in the knowledge economy, is the enactment and enforcement of policies. Imagine, if we had a policy that states that every registered company in Nigeria must use .ng domain nam. We know this is not an impossible feat, after all the UK and a few other countries are enforcing such policies whether covertly or overtly.

“Therefore, the recent moves by the FEC must be effectively implemented especially in support of the digital economy drives. The journey towards economic diversification requires everybody’s commitment to the development of a robust digital economy and in this case, demands the use of the Nigerian Second Level Domain by all government-owned websites and official emails.

“The private sector is not left out either. Many Nigerian business platforms still struggle with the indulgence of .ng, not aware of the immense benefit it will offer to boost their business outlook both local and international.”

The Benefits

Addressing the many benefits of the adoption and use of .ng domain name, most analysts are of the view that .ng domain name, which is Nigeria’s identity in the cyberspace, will enhance global visibility of local businesses and at the same time, deepen local content development in Nigeria.

First, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has the registry for .ng Internet Domain Names and maintains the database of names registered in Nigeria. It has shown commitment towards this cause by the recent reduction in the price of .ng domain name registration by over 40 per cent, and the media efforts to inform the general public.

Another registrar who highlighted the benefits of .ng domain name, said: “The benefits are numerous but let us consider a few of them. The .ng is the internet country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) for Nigeria. Nigeria’s domain name system identifies Nigeria-related websites and is currently available for registration in the following variants, .com.ng, .ng, .org.ng, .net.ng and so on, with a few of them being restricted to Nigerian entities such as .gov.ng, .edu.ng, .sch.ng and so on.

“For instance, Nigerian businesses registering .ng domain names have the immediate benefit of being ranked first on search engines when an online search is conducted. Using it and maintaining a good search engine optimisation for the website will, over time, lead to an increase in local traffic.”

The registrar added: “A strong online presence is essential. Your prospective customer will likely conduct a web search when looking for your product or service, and a website that is relatively easy to find and navigate will greatly increase your chances of making a sale, which .ng provides. Nigeria as a Nation is blessed with this unique domain string known as .ng and we should be proud of this gift of nature. However, we should not stop at appreciating it but owning at least one of the many variants.”

Foreign Exchange

The ever increasing foreign exchange rate has hiked the cost of hosting services with multi-tenant cloud computing, using the Virtual Private Server (VPS) and the same goes for .com domain names, but analysts are of the view that using the .ng range of domains will contribute to saving the scarce forex (FX).

A lot of developers used to be happy paying for their Virtual Private Server but not anymore because of the high cost of VPS, occasioned by high foreign exchange rate.

Google, a global brand with local presence in Nigeria, owns both .com.ng as well as .ng, an example of a forward looking global company that plays local to gain the attention of millions of people in any market where it operates. Google would rather serve every online searcher with results using google.com.ng when they search for stuff within Nigeria. Even when searches done from outside of Nigeria, in a place like Ghana, using the same device, Google will still provide the results via google.com.ng

Local Content Development

With increase in local content development across all sectors of the Nigerian economy, more businesses are likely to spring up. However, considering the report by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), which stated that the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the country dropped by about two million between 2017 and 2021, it became very obvious that Nigeria has no other choice than to grow its local content and intensify the promotion of local brands online.

The 2021 MSME survey revealed that there were 39 million MSMEs in Nigeria, which is a significant drop from the 41 million reported in the 2017 survey report.

Analysts are therefore of the strong opinion that Nigerians, including government across all levels must intensify action in the development of local content by supporting the growth of indigenous firms and companies.

“Just imagine what will happen if only one per cent of the reported over 211 million Nigerians, according to MacroTrends statistics, decides to own .ng domain name. That will be over 21 million domain names, which would eventually serve as the foundation for businesses and ventures on the world wide web. Would that not further strengthen the Nigerian brand and dignify her on the Internet?” one of the analysts asked.

Giving the implications of the deliberate refusal of some Nigerians to adopt and use the .ng domain name, analysts who analysed the business and economic implications, said all hands must be on deck to drive the adoption and the use of the .ng domain, in order to complement the efforts of NiRA.

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TECHDIGEST -The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has outlined the “Eight Pillars” that would guide the country’s digital economy policy and strategy, which is being spearheaded by the federal government’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

The eight pillars as contained in the NCC’s Strategic Management Plan 2020-2024  are:

1. Developmental Regulation: Effectively regulate the ICT & digital sector in a way that enables the development.
2. Digital Literacy & Skills: Providing policy backing for massive training of Nigerians in digital literacy & skills
3. Solid Infrastructure: Development of fixed & mobile infrastructure to deepen broadband penetration
4. Service Infrastructure: Support for Government digital services and provision of robust digital platforms to drive the digital economy
5. Soft Infrastructure: Strengthening public confidence in the use of digital technologies
6. Digital Economy Development & Promotion: Development of a vibrant digital ecosystem that supports Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDE) and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME)
7. Digital Society and Emerging Technologies: Tying development of the digital economy to indices of the wellbeing of ordinary citizens
8. Indigenous Content Promotion & Adoption: Provision of a policy framework that gives preference to digitally skilled Nigerians in government-funded projects.

The vision of Nigeria’s digital economy strategy is: “To digitally transform the economy of Nigeria into a leading global economy providing quality life and digital opportunities for all her citizens.”

While the mission is: “We build a nation where every citizen, business and institution can utilize readily accessible digital technologies for improving themselves and developing the national economy.”

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Accelerating access to digital technologies promotes innovation, efficiency, and productivity, and as a result, brings about choice and prospects for higher growth and inclusion, according to a recent World Bank Nigeria Digital Economy Diagnostic Report released in 2019.

According to the survey, many Nigerian consumers and businesses are still left out of the digital ecosystem due to a lack of broadband connectivity and suitable hardware (mobile phones and PCs) to properly exploit the Internet.

Nigeria needs to enhance infrastructure investment and establish an enabling regulatory environment for the digital economy to thrive in order to satisfy the government’s 2030 objectives of increased access to the digital economy and meet the daring goal of producing 100 million jobs.

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TECHDIGEST – With 500 million US dollars, the African Development Bank (AfDB) will be supporting Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from Nigeria, notably those in the creative, and technology sectors beginning this October 2021.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated this in a speech at the weekend during 33rd Lecture of the Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, and the 65th birthday celebration of the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oluseyi Oduyoye.

The institution’s 33rd Inaugural Lecture was delivered by Oluseyi Oduyoye, Professor of Business Administration with the title: “From Small Business to Big Business: A Future with Little Hope”.

The AfDB financial support came with assistance of the federal government to consolidate on its efforts at promoting and sustaining MSMEs as the cornerstone of Nigeria’s economic revitalization, the vice president said.

Government considers the MSMEs as the future of the country, the vice president told the audience. According to him, MSMEs account for employing more than 47 per cent of workers in the private sector in 2019.

To make MSMEs sustainable in the face of the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal Government introduced the MSMEs Survival Fund, he added.

Mr. Osinbanjo said in his speech: “The MSMEs Survival Fund gave almost a million businesses support after the pandemic. We paid three months salary of several of the MSMEs especially private schools such as-private primary schools, private secondary schools. We paid for teachers and also for several other businesses.

“I think the statistics will be useful, especially as you further research and work; and so much have been done.

“But as I keep saying, it is a large country; a very big country; in order to deal with all those issues and in order to support more businesses in a way that they ought to be supported, a lot more money is needed.

“And just one final point on that, the AfDB has agreed to support the government with 500 million dollars for MSMEs in technology in particular; so, we think this is something that will be very helpful in addition to the N75 billion, which the government has set aside for young people in small businesses.”

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