Strands Foundation For Small Business Development

SEEDI is of the belief that entrepreneurship is a powerful driver of economic growth and job creation, not only does it creates new business entities and jobs, it also opens up new markets, and nurtures new skills and capabilities. Entrepreneurship makes economies more competitive and innovative and is crucial in achieving the objectives of several Nigerian sectorial policies. However, the depth of entrepreneurial activities in Nigeria is not at impressive levels and the consequences manifest in low levels of entrepreneur driven economic activities. SEEDI believes that commercialising new ideas improves productivity and creates wealth. Without the jobs from new firms, average net employment growth would be negative. New companies, especially MSMEs, represent the most important source of new employment: they create more than 1 million new jobs every year in developed countries. Yet in Nigeria, the engine for this recovery has been stuttering: since 2008, the share of people preferring self-employment to being an employee has significantly dropped in Nigeria. The level of entrepreneurship and its nature vary widely between countries, and the reasons for low enthusiasm for an entrepreneurial career are therefore diverse. Generally, would-be entrepreneurs in Nigeria find themselves in a tough environment: education does not offer the right foundation for an entrepreneurial career, difficult access to credits and markets, difficulty in transferring businesses, the fear of punitive sanctions in case of failure, and burdensome administrative procedures. To make entrepreneurship the growth engine of our economy Nigeria needs a thorough, far-reaching cultural change and to this end, SEEDI is working with a broad of partners to deepen the culture of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Our vision is To double the share of people preferring self-employment to being an employee and use same as a vehicle to drive sustained economic growth and job creation.