TheCable

GoOnline Nigeria, a business growth programme for digital transformation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), says it will soon announce 50 SMEs that will benefit from the pilot of its digital transformation programme.

The announcement will be made at TechPlus 2017, which will hold at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, between July 6 and July 8.

In a statement on Monday, Foluso Busari, executive director, programmes at GoOnline Nigeria, said the theme of the programme is ‘An Intelligent Future’.

According to the statement, GoOnline Nigeria is running a campaign on its official portal, www.goonline.ng, to select 50 SMEs to benefit from the national programme that promotes digital transformation of SMES.

“After several years of planning, we are pleased to announce that we have seen TechPlus 2017 as a valuable platform to serve as our launch pad for GoOnline Nigeria,” Busari said.

“GoOnline Nigeria will join other companies around the world that converge at the annual TechPlus events to showcase and learn how technology is evolving to meet the needs of a digital generation and modern business.”

The GoOnline Nigeria programme is delivered by an alliance of programme partners and SME growth drivers across the technology, internet, payments, financial services, media and allied industries.

Busari said at TechPlus 2017, GoOnline Nigeria will showcase its initiatives towards aggregating Nigerian SMEs to sustainably lead and unlock business innovation, efficiency, competitiveness and profitability in the digital age.

He added that GoOnline Nigeria’s 360-degree programme is delivered through three key modules: Get Online, Grow Online and Succeed Online for SMEs across Nigeria to sell profitably on the Internet.

According to him, “SMEs are a very important component of the Nigerian economy and are regarded as engine of sustainable growth.

“SMEs also hold potentials to contribute higher proportion to GDP in Nigeria with targeted initiatives like GoOnline Nigeria to unlock potentials in the sector and build a stronger SME sector.

“Consistent commitment to the development of strong SMEs sector can be unlocked by implementing initiatives like access to finance and financial incentives; basic and technological infrastructure and a commitment to building domestic expertise and knowledge.”

Under the GoOnline Nigeria plan, participating SMEs will get affordable web presence bundling free Nigeria .ng Internet domain name, website, web hosting, telecoms starter kits for SMEs, e-commerce, CRM and other business management tools.

Stage two on Grow Online will provide SMEs across Nigeria with 21st Century IT and business skills for entrepreneurs to lead business innovation, operational efficiency, business competitiveness and profitability in the digital age.

This phase of the programme will incorporate targeted training, workshops and seminars spread over a one year cycle of monthly learning experiences to offer partner SMEs the needed skills and competence to gain and retain customers by leveraging the internet.

The third phase of GoOnline Nigeria will feature online and physical events for participating SMEs to showcase their products and services through business communities, monthly learning & networking experiences, quarterly events and annual expos.