PricewaterhouseCoopers, a professional services firm, has been engaged by the Federal Government as the grant administrator for the Growth and Employment project.
The GEM project is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and funded by the World Bank.
The Partner and Head, PwC, Dr. Bert Odiaka, said, “PwC is excited about this opportunity to be part of such an important project, which will create numerous opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria, as well as impact overall economic growth and non-oil revenue for Nigeria.”
The project is meant to provide technical assistance and grants in support of bright ideas from firms across Nigeria operating in certain sectors of the economy.
These include Information and Communication Technology, hospitality, entertainment, light manufacturing, and construction.
Access to the GEM support is designed to be routed through the Business Innovation and Growth platform.
The BIG platform is an online platform expected to be the main channel through which the GEM project assistance is made available to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, building the capacity of firms and helping them to organise, in order to facilitate better access to finance.
On the requirements for the grant, Odiaka said that a firm must be operating in the GEM sectors in Nigeria and must be a for-profit private sector company.
He added that unregistered firms or entrepreneurs could be also admitted to the BIG platform.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, had during the launch of the BIG platform in Abuja recently, said it would create employment by fostering the growth of the MSMEs.
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