The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the International Trade Facilitators Association in Nigeria has said about 470 Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), would benefit from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) to boost environmental and business sustainability.
Speaking at the commencement of a two-day training programme for beneficiaries from the North-West region in Kano, the Trade Ambassador, International Trade Facilitators Association (ITFA), Collins Ezeiruaku, highlighted that the programme is been implemented under the Support to Potential and Existing Nature Positive MSMEs (SPENM) project.
He said the project targets non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations who designed local solutions to issues, especially on the environment as a result of climate change.
He said “a lot f NGOs are doing impactful things and once they don’t have funding or grants, they foil up. The GEF came up to support these potential MSMEs to be able to sustain their program beyond the grant funding period.
“We are partnering with both the federal and the state governments in this regard. We are working with the state committees on export promotion, and every state, based on the federal programme of one state, one product initiative.
“Each state has one product that they have a comparative advantage in producing,” he noted.
He explained that the organisation is out to support them with resources and tools to grow and live beyond those who initiated the idea.
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While noting that the SPENM project is centered on people, planet and profit, he added that the project avail beneficiaries an opportunity of profitability, accessing local and international markets and moving towards international certification for international competitiveness and relevance in the value chain.
The Program Support to the national coordinator, UNDP GEF-SGP, Rose Agbo, said the programme is all about promoting the need for sustainability to nature positive solutions.
“We are evolving the strategy to see how we can blend revenue generation with conservation efforts and environmental protection because most of our CSOs are donor focus which depend on definite grant circle but we want to discourage that and see how the impact can be sustained for many years to come; infusing profit making skills,” she stated.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Malam Sidi, said the workshop provides an avenue for beneficiaries to transform and grow into thriving, self-sustaining social enterprises.
He said they will be equipped with models that can be use to generate profit while addressing critical environmental and social challenges.
