In a bid to support more Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises business in the country, the Federal Government on Monday extended by three months a fifty (50%) per cent discount to operators of MSMEs to register their company names.
The gesture was revealed at a meeting presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo during the first quarter MSMEs stakeholders’ meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Osinbajo explained that the government’s action was informed by the success so far recorded in the 50 per cent discount window. For instance, reports showed that small business registration grew from “54,000 to 163,000 within six months” of approving the discount.
The government, through the Corporate Affairs Commission, started applying the discount since in October 2018. It involved reducing the fee for the registration of a business name from N10,000 to N5,000 to help MSMEs formalize their operations.
Osinbajo at the event also asked both the Standard Organization of Nigeria and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to quickly resolve issues relating to the overlapping of their functions to ease business operations.
The VP further challenged the stakeholders to brainstorm and come up with suggestions on how best to finance small business outlets in the country.
