Glovo Reaffirms Commitment To Empowering SMEs In Nigeria

Glovo, one of the leading tech platforms in Europe, Africa and Central Asia, has reaffirmed its commitment to empowering Small and Medium enterprises in Nigeria with the new edition of Glovo Academy held in Abuja.

Glovo Academy is an in-person learning and development initiative designed to provide training and digital tools to help local businesses optimise operations, boost their brand, and increase online sales through the Glovo platform.

In this Glovo Academy edition, the Head of Growth, Glovo Nigeria, Reni Onafeko, noted that the company remains committed to empowering SMEs on its platform by offering access to opportunities such as advisory and finance.

She explained that with the million of orders delivered since the launch of Glovo in 2022 in Abuja, over N11 billion in value has been delivered to partners.

According to her, the company has recorded 30% increase year-on-year in orders in Abuja, working now with over 1,000 local restaurants.

She emphasised the need for SMEs to embrace digital literacy to enable their businesses to expand, formalise their operations, and scale sustainably.

Speaking during the panel session, the Special Adviser to the Minister of State for Industry, Ifeoma Williams, stressed that MSMEs remain the backbone of any economy, noting that current data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that 40% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product is derived from these small businesses.

While bemoaning poor access to loan facilities from the federal government for many SMEs, she attributed the challenge to a lack of proper structure and the right business plan.

She stated that the federal government is doing a lot to provide the right policies for thriving businesses.

Making his contribution, the founder of Ahmad’s Sharwarma, Tijani Mustapha, who delved into the operational challenges confronting SMEs, stated that business owners must have staying power or resilience to overcome the challenges of human resources and quality control.

Mustapha underscored the need for SMEs to invest in technology to stay competitive and grow their businesses.

“Any business we do today must embrace technology. Through technology, we can gather customer feedback, keep the business in check, and improve,” he said.

Also speaking at the session, Kayode Meyanbe, Head of ICT, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, stated that through the agency, the federal government is leveraging a partnership with the Corporate Affairs Commission to provide free registration for 250,000 businesses.

Kayode urged SMEs to take advantage of the opportunity to formalize their operations and access the opportunities provided.

“As an agency, we have partnered with banks to provide loans at an interest rate below 10% to support their businesses. Not only that, state governments have also been helping us with funds for these SMEs to access our loan facilities. Beyond that, we have also engaged BDSPs to provide capacity training on how to run businesses for SMEs. We do this through Kaduna Business School and Lagos Business School to dispense need-based skills and curriculum to SMEs,” he said.

In his remarks, Head of Commercial at Glovo, Nigeria, Kolawole Adeniyi, disclosed that the platform, which registered its presence in 2021 in Africa, has invested 206 million euros in the African continents.

According to Adeniyi, the platform has impacted businesses, with 90% belonging to the SMEs category, and offers N55 billion in direct economic value generated for partners.

At the event, presentations and sessions were held for partners to educate them about the company’s operations and capacity training.

The training session and presentation focused on operational excellence, marketing, addressing customer complaints, and capacity-building training on business and financial literacy or management facilitated by the Enterprise Development Centre, Pan Atlantic University.