CWG, EDC Thinker on SMEs Development‎

Computer Warehouse Group Plc (CWG) has concluded plans to collaborate with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University to afford Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) access to business enabling solutions.

This follows a visit by a delegation of EDC led by Mr. Peter Bamkole, director, to the corporate headquarters of CWG in Lagos.

Bamkole said in a statement on CWG’s website, “We are considering integrating OPENSHOPEN and SMERP for now into our certificate   in entrepreneurial management training. With this, entrepreneurs can begin to experience the viability of technology as a solution for their business efficiency, right from the classroom.

He expressed his satisfaction with the capacity of the CWG 2.0 products to sufficiently provide the leverage SMEs require to improve their business output. According to him, “our aim at EDC is to de-risk the SME sector, so as to increase SMES access to funding.”

“Your solution will help entrepreneurs change their business model from costly asset acquisition to services utilisation on a subscription basis, thus making it easier and affordable”, he added.

The CWG 2.0 products feature a range of SMEs focused and Cloud based IT solutions.

They include SMERP, which is designed to address the challenge of accounting and inventory management, and financial record keeping; a requirement for accessing loans.

The Diamond Yello Account (DYA) allows individuals open a bank account using the mobile phones, without having to visit the bank.

POSapp is a Point Of Sale (POS) system that allows merchants receive payments, sell services and offers the unique functionality of keeping sales inventory.

While, Openshopen is an eCommerce platform that aims at giving business owners the exposure they need to sell beyond their vicinity and guarantee increased sales and expansion.

On his part, Mr. Austin Okere, founder and chief executive officer, CWG Plc, appraised the initiative by EDC to avail entrepreneurs with technology.

According to him, “The SMEs space boasts of a number of key players with quite distinct roles, in their bid to promote the growth of the sector. However, we believe that these players need to work together seamlessly. Such synergy will ensure that rather than experience arithmetic progression, we will together have quantum leaps of success. This underscores our willingness to collaborate with the EDC to provide the support that SMEs need to succeed. If each SME grows their business to the extent that they can add one additional employee, that will generate an additional 17m jobs, given the total number of SMEs in Nigeria. This is much more than any single large employer can provide”.

“The impact of the program on the success of the SME’s businesses is however, dependent upon the commitment of the entrepreneurs themselves. It is not that CWG and EDC are going to do something magical for them to grow. Rather, CWG and EDC are helping them to do something magical for themselves”, he concluded.

On his part, Mr. James Agada, CTO of CWG reiterated the commitment of the company to continue to develop a robust franchisee model with all institutions involved with SME development to expand the accessibility of her technology service platforms solution to the larger entrepreneurial segment and thereby championing inclusive growth and job creation.

The collaboration with EDC adds to the list of CWG’s strategic partnership with SMEs focused institutions, including the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) that aims at providing ICT technology platform for MSMEs on a subscription based model.‎

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