Small and Medium Scale businesses looking to access finance, training, free consulting services, mentoring and networking opportunities, can now do so through the Federal Government backed interactive BIG platform.
The Business, Innovation and Growth platform is an online portal designed to help businesses in Nigeria live up to their growth potential by making it easier for them to get hold of tools that are vital to improved business performance. The initiative, which links the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment’s Growth and Empowerment (GEM) project with its beneficiaries, also has support from the World Bank. About 10,000 businesses with less than 100 employees are expected to be impacted by the project, which aims to build the capacity of enterprises across Nigeria. Targets of this program include small businesses operating in the ICT, Entertainment, Manufacturing, Construction and Hospitality sectors.
Businesses registered on the BIG platform enjoy several benefits: they can apply for, and obtain monetary grants; they can apply for free consulting services on such things as value chain optimization, reporting and forecasting systems, and risk management processes; they can also get general and industry specific training which helps them increase their productivity.
To access the services available on the BIG platform, businesses are required to register on the BIG online portal. An induction workshop will be held for successful applicants.
