TheCable

Nike Shittu, the chief executive officer of Mojoy Computers Limited, says small and medium enterprises in Computer Village, Ikeja, need help.

Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos, is commonly regarded as Nigeria’s largest technology market.

“We need help within that cluster, and I don’t think that we can be seen from afar by the Federal Government alone. I think that there are bodies and Ministries and other institutions that can push our interest”, she said in an interview with Technology Times for their monthly magazine, Komputer Village.

“I think it’s so unfortunate that the government does not support the SMEs because they form the backbone of the economy of many countries because the small businesses gather small number of people and before you know it, they are taking unemployment out of the country.

“I could do much more than I’m doing, but I know I have limited capital. We have never ever been encouraged by the government like ‘how can we help you to grow this business?’ By the time you go to the bank, by the time they ask you for all manner of things, property and all that, means they don’t even believe in us.

Shittu called on “institutions like NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency), Ministry of Communication, Information, other ministries, other parastatals, that can bring the attention of our need to the Federal Government where we can be helped and be given facilities that will be within unit interest that can help us, and that can sustain us because borrowing at 28%, 30% is like we are just working for the bank.

“We just need help in this area very seriously and very urgently because a lot of people are already taking off from the market.”

Shittu said she started her business in Computer Village in 2000.