In order to improve economic development and entrepreneurship, the United States is ready to offer assistance to 18,000 small businesses. According to a communique, the U.S. is looking at investing about 244 million dollars, which will boost the small business sector, presenting a new set of opportunities and advancement.
The United States expressed delight and celebrated the “Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment activity” on the 10th of this month. This program has been conducted for the past 5 years through the US Agency for International Development, (USAID).
The communique further stated that “The $15.7m agribusiness investment activity assisted more than 18,000 small businesses, also known as micro, small, and medium enterprises, in seven states – Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi, and Niger. The initiative mobilized more than N188bn ($244m) in agricultural investment, providing access to finance, and bolstering their businesses. The MSMEs can now expand business operations for increased food production, specifically for aquaculture, cowpea, maize, rice, and soybean.”
The communique concluded by saying, about 35% of the country’s labour force is employed in agribusiness as well as the sector plays a large part in the country’s economy.
It believes the country’s agribusiness has the ability to boost the economy more if challenges such as tight access to funding, stringent bureaucracy, and high cost business operations can be looked into.
On the initiative, Michelle Corzine, Office Director for USAID/Nigeria Economic Growth and Environment said, “We have seen remarkable improvements in the agricultural sector, and it is essential that public and private-sector actors continue to collaborate to ensure that we continue to improve the business environment for Nigeria’s farmers.”
