Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has come out to declare his commitment to ensuring a conducive business environment for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the state.

He recently revealed this at the closing ceremony of the 2020 edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair themed: “Connecting Businesses, Creating Value.”

According to him, supporting the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in Lagos is key to enable it maintain its key position of generating wealth and employment opportunities for Nigeria.

He added that his government will keep placing focus on providing infrastructure to make the state safe, secure, functional and productive.

His words, “We will continue to support the sector to thrive, especially in the area of maximising the huge opportunities in the value chains of the various sectors of the economy.

“Our administration will continue to partner with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Organised Private Sector through promotion of fiscal and investment initiatives to ease the burden of doing business in Lagos,”

“We share the pains of the victims and promise to do all we can, through some of the measures we have initiated including the Trust Fund that was inaugurated a couple of weeks ago.

“The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund is already reaching out to stakeholders and concerned business owners and operators of vandalized or looted property to get back on their feet through application of the Lagos Recovery Fund for Looted Businesses.

“More than 2,500 business owners and operators have applied to the fund at present.”

“The theme of this year’s Trade Fair-” has proven appropriate at this time due to the increasingly urgent need for the nation to diversify her economy through networking and value addition.

“As a responsive and responsible government, we are conscious of the gargantuan challenges faced by businesses in the nation during this period of COVID-19.

“It is important for us to continue to provide active support to entrepreneurs and business owners to mitigate such challenges through consistent marketing support activities such as the conduct at this year’s trade fair.

“With the acute awareness that your network is your net worth, you must be intentional about cultivating and maintaining connections; so put in every effort not to let these budding connections fizzle out.

“Set up or show up at virtual hangouts and explore virtual meeting platforms with businesses within your sector.”