Over 17 million entrepreneurs have the opportunity to benefit from a partnership between Nigeria’s National Telecommunications Carrier, Globacom, and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

Officials of the two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the partnership at a press conference held on Wednesday 25th February at Globacom’s headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Globacom’s Regional Chief Marketing Officer for West Africa, Ashok Israni signed on behalf of Glo, while the Director General of SMEDAN, Bature Umar Masari signed for his organisation.

Giving details of the agreement, Globacom’s Head, Corporate Sales, Kamaldeen Shonibare, said Glo will empower small and medium enterprises that are members of SMEDAN by providing them access to grants, soft loans and capacity training programmes.

Masari, the Director General of SMEDAN explained that the partnership would run for an initial period of five years with the opportunity for attractive call rates as Closed User Groups (CUGs) for the 17 million entrepreneurs under SMEDAN and a channel to advertise their products and services via Call Back Ring Tone. He explained that the project would also give 10 percent of the net revenue from the partnership to select Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) who subscribed to the package

In a related development Airtel Nigeria encourages SME’s through their SME club which seeks to allow the member’s network with business partners beneficial to their businesses. However, to benefit from this, SME’s must show proof of membership with SMEDAN, NASME or affiliate of any small scale institution with either ID card or letter confirming membership, Certificate of incorporation or registration of company.

In the same vein, MTN Nigeria has developed a special package for SME’s which allows business owners use data and airtime at a cheaper rate. The MTN SME Data Share is a prepaid service that allows business owners to buy data bundles and share with their staff.  This service is specifically designed for growing businesses offering them the ability to centrally manage internet usage per staff across their business.

Etisalat Nigeria also has a prepaid package – Easybusiness which is targeted at Small and Medium Enterprises with a minimum of 3 staff. With this, users can enjoy free calls and sms to one another within your group, low international call rates and free internet on specific easybusiness bundle packages.

Easy Business is tailored to fit small businesses and busy lifestyles and provide huge savings on your communication cost.