- SMEDAN partners with Zoho to support 25,000 Nigerian SMEs with wallet credits worth N20 billion
- Businesses gain access to over 60 Zoho applications, enhancing operational efficiency and productivity
- Training and support included, ensuring SMEs can effectively use new digital tools for growth
Pascal Oparada is a journalist with Legit.ng, covering technology, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy for over a decade.
Thousands of Nigerian small businesses struggling with the cost of digital tools could soon get major financial relief as the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) partners with global technology company Zoho to support 25,000 businesses with wallet credits worth up to N20 billion.
The initiative targets a problem many Nigerian entrepreneurs understand too well: the high cost of accessing technology needed to run a modern business.
Credit: SMEDAN
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Rather than spending heavily on separate software for accounting, customer management, communication and other operations, eligible businesses under the SMEDAN ecosystem will be able to access Zoho’s cloud-based business applications through the new wallet credit programme.
What the N20bn Support Means for SMEs
The partnership could give participating businesses access to more than 60 Zoho applications covering some of the most important areas of business management.
These include Zoho Workplace, which provides business email and collaboration tools; Bigin by Zoho CRM, designed to help businesses manage customers and sales pipelines; and Zoho Books, which provides cloud-based accounting capabilities.
For a small business owner still relying heavily on spreadsheets, paper records or multiple disconnected applications, the support could make it easier to bring critical business operations into one digital environment.
The broader objective is to help SMEs reduce operational inefficiencies, improve productivity and compete more effectively in an increasingly digital marketplace.
Training comes with the technology
One of the key features of the initiative is that participating businesses will not simply receive access to technology and be left to figure it out themselves.
SMEDAN and Zoho said the programme will include training sessions, workshops, one-on-one business consultations and ongoing technical support.
This is particularly important because simply giving businesses access to software does not guarantee that they will use it effectively.
Zoho Nigeria Country Head, Kehinde Ogundare, said technology would only deliver its full value when businesses could access and effectively deploy it to solve their operational challenges.
The partnership therefore seeks to tackle both sides of the problem: the cost of technology and the ability of entrepreneurs to use it effectively.
Part of SMEDAN’s bigger push for business growth
The initiative fits into SMEDAN’s GROW Nigerian strategy, which focuses on formalisation, access to finance and markets, productivity and digital adoption.
SMEDAN Director-General Charles Odii said the agency’s priority was to help small businesses move beyond survival towards sustainable growth and prosperity.
The digital support also comes as the agency works with the Corporate Affairs Commission to facilitate the free registration of 250,000 businesses, according to a report by Leadership.
For SMEs, formalisation can be an important step towards accessing opportunities in the formal economy, while digital tools can help them build more organised and scalable operations.
Why Nigerian SMEs should pay attention
For many entrepreneurs, the biggest benefit may not be the headline N20 billion value but the opportunity to access tools that can help them run their businesses more professionally without bearing the entire cost of digital adoption.
Credit: Novatis
Source: Getty Images
With competition increasing and customers becoming more digitally connected, businesses that can properly manage their finances, customers, employees and daily operations may have a stronger foundation for growth.
The SMEDAN-Zoho partnership therefore represents more than a technology giveaway.
It is an attempt to lower one of the barriers preventing Nigerian SMEs from moving from survival mode to more structured, productive and competitive businesses.
FG reopens portal for Nigerians for N50k Grant
Legit.ng previously reported that the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has opened applications for its Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS), offering eligible nano and micro businesses a non-repayable grant of N50,000 to support business growth and job creation.
The programme is designed to help small enterprises strengthen their operations through financial support that does not require repayment, provided beneficiaries comply with the scheme’s conditions.
Source: Legit.ng