The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has urged the Commonwealth nations to pay special attention to small businesses.
This, he said, would enable them to achieve sustainable growth and development across its member countries.
Obi, the former governor of Anambra State, underscored the importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to global economic growth and rapid expansion.
He said this at a global conference organised by the Bangladesh Government in conjunction with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The former governor also explained why small businesses are the engine of growth across the globe, especially in areas of job creation, innovation and domestic investment.
He said: “If we enhance the functionality and impacts of SMEs across Commonwealth countries through formalisation and internationalisation, we would have done it across the world with lives, communities and economies positively impacted.
“Endowed with a population of about 2.5 billion people, a home to over a billion young consumers and exports of over $1 trillion, the need for better support for SMEs cannot be overemphasised.
“Small businesses, especially in developing and emerging markets, face many challenges arising from lack of formalisation and internationalisation.
“Therefore, many small businesses are not registered and licensed, lacking international affiliations and barely exploit the benefits of international trade, which limits the growth opportunities of both SMEs and the countries.”
Obi explained that formalisation involved bringing SMEs into the formal economy through registration of their businesses and complying with legal and regulatory requirements.
He said that the process of formalisation would be beneficial not only to SMEs, but the overall business environment and economic stability.
The former governor added that such significant segments of SMEs operated in the informal sector due to a lack of resources or awareness of the formalisation benefits.
The presidential candidate argued that SMEs are emerging as the undisputed engine of rapid economic expansion and growth globally.
Obi noted: “World Bank records (2020) showed that SMEs account for roughly 90 per cent of businesses and more than 50 per cent of jobs created globally.”
He said while the formal SMEs contributed up to 40 per cent of national income (GDP) in Developing and Emerging Markets (DEMs), their impact and contribution were significantly higher when informal ones were included.
