The Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) has provided business development and support services to 4,224 women entrepreneurs in the past five years.
The acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Mr Chudi Ugwuada-Ezirigwe, disclosed this during an end-of-year media briefing in Abuja.
Ugwuada-Ezirigwe said that as a matter of policy, 70 percent of the agency’s services, activities, and programmes were targeted at women and youths.
He said on Thursday that the support aligned with the agency’s mandate to create wealth and alleviate poverty.
He added that considering Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as key drivers of economic growth and development, the agency also created 13,678 jobs and funded 4,761 businesses within the period under review.
He added that the agency equally created 3,868 enterprises, sensitised and promoted 9,557 entrepreneurs, grew 7,327 enterprises, and built the capacities of 1,962 entrepreneurs in FCT.
Ugwuada-Ezirigwe also said that the AEA has provided 1,460 entrepreneurs with requisite business development, and support services.
“These services range across subjects related to mentorship, coaching, and indeed regulatory support of different types.
“We have conducted some rural outreach programmes to provide business support services to 3,691 entrepreneurs and their businesses in the six Area Councils.
“For us as an agency of the FCT Administration, we pride ourselves on saying that as a matter of policy, 70 percent of our services are targeted at the rural areas cutting across the six Area Councils of the FCT,” he said.
He also said that the agency had fostered dialogue and interactive sessions between SME’s and regulatory organisations through its one-stop shop.
He said that 16 regulatory agencies, including Standard Organisation of Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and Federal Internal Revenue Services, were stationed at the agency offering services.
“What it means is that if you enter the agency’s complex, you can start and finish your business registration without having to go to CAC or pay any lawyer or attorney,” he added.
The acting MD said that the agency would strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem, synergy, coordination, and enhance access to investment and sectoral intervention. (NAN)
