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Knowledge Box

The Highlights from the Institute of Soft Skills and Vocational Development of Nigeria (ISSVD) Free webinar 2.


The institute of soft skills and vocational development of Nigeria (ISSVD) had a free webinar, which took place via zoom on Friday 23 September 2022; time was 10:00am. The webinar had about (144) one hundred and fourth four registered individuals. In attendance were 57 participants.

Theme for the webinar was: Challenges of SMEs in Nigeria-The soft skills imperative which was taken by the keynote speaker: Mr. Anayo Agu; Co-Founder, Seeds of Greatness Institute (SGI) & Board Member, ISSVD.

Points taken from his presentation:
PREAMBLE

  1. All of life is a challenge to fulfill the highest, truest and most authentic expression of yourselves as a human beings created in the image and likeness of the Almighty God.
  2. Your business enterprise, be it micro, small, medium or large, is one of the various ways and means you’ve chosen to pursue this great commission.
  3. Successful people, entrepreneurs and SME owners included, are not people without challenges or problems. They are people who have learned to solve their problems in spite of the odds on their ways.
  4. Challenges are as normal to life as the air we breathe. Overcoming them in order to provide services to one another and to supply what the world needs is the purpose of entrepreneurship and ownership of an enterprise. As a result, your reward in business like your reward in any other life endeavor will always be in direct ratio to the value of the services you provide.

The webinar Objectives
At the end of this presentation and the subsequent interactive sessions, participants, especially SME owners, will realize on the one hand that:

  • We’re all self-made. Our personalities create our personal results.
  • Your business is a reflection of you. The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
  • Entrepreneurship and business development is 95% mindset and only 5% strategy
  • The best investment is investment in yourself especially in your soft skills
  • Most MSMEs are more fundamentally challenged by weakness of attention, poverty of imagination, and lack of resourcefulness than lack of money and the commercial environment.

And on the other, participants should be able to:

  • Discuss with clarity and purpose, how soft skills are inevitable to success in life and business
  • Understand how lack of relevant soft skills significantly contribute to why businesses, especially MSME fail in Nigeria and what to do about it
  • Use soft skills to boost performance, profitability, employee morale and professionalism
  • Leverage soft skills to enhance corporate culture, customer relations, and to reduce staff attrition
  • Use soft skills to unleash the potential of the private sector and entrepreneurship in Nigeria and across Africa using especially MSMEs.

Major CHALLENGES OF MSMEs IN NIGERIA

  • Access to finance. This challenge tops the list. SME (67.9%) ME (9.5%)
  • Sundry environmental challenges such as power or energy supply, water and exorbitant tax rates and levies,
  • Economically irrational and unpredictable government policies such as gas/fuel prices, electricity tariffs, high interest rates, and the complexity of business/product/service registration and production permits, etc.
  • Rising insecurity and systemic corruption which combine with other environmental factors make cost of doing business in Nigeria uncompetitive and extremely challenging

The general belief is that SMEs are founded by entrepreneurs who:

  • See a need in the marketplace
  • Are passionate to create a value to satisfy the need at a profit
  • Are ready and willing to seize the opportunity and meet the challenges especially the financial risks associated with the venture, and
  • As a result, raise money to start a business to meet a need in the marketplace.

Top Ten Soft Skills

SME Owners Need to Seize Opportunities & Meet Challenges

  1. Empathy
  2. Communications
  3. Teamwork
  4. Problem-Solving
  5. Time Management
  6. Attitude and Work Ethic
  7. Adaptability & Flexibility
  8. Self Confidence
  9. Learning or Ability to Learning
  10. Networking

Attitude is the magic word!
I call it the second most important soft skill in business. It is your predisposition to act in a certain way, your way – consciously or unconsciously.

Your attitude determines your altitude. According to James Allen, circumstance does not make a man. It merely reveals him to himself.

Attitude differentiates champions from amateurs. I therefore encourage you to take a long, hard look at your attitude toward your employees, your clients, your financial benefactors, and your business associates.

If you do as I have said, I guarantee you, no challenge will overwhelm your soft skills or erase your goodwill. And as soon as possible, please join our institute - if you haven’t.

Screenshots of webinar

The Panellist were fantastic in their contributions to the questions asked. Here are the names of the panellist:

  • Amb. Anthonia Akpabio Ekpa Phd
  • Dr. Mrs. Omolara Akanji
  • Kelechi Abiri

Keynote Speaker: Mr. Anayo Agu
Moderator: Professor Charles Ogbulogo
Host: Dr. Obiora Madu

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