Following the recent hike in the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, small business owners, under the aegis of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON) have decided to adopt survival strategies that will ensure that they do not go into extinction.
This is coming on the back of warnings by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and ASBON that the fuel price increase could lead to scaling down of operations and possible shutdown of more manufacturing companies and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
In an exclusive chat with newsmen ASBON President, Femi Egbesola, stated: “For us in the MSME sector, the way out now is focusing not on what the government will do for us, for we don’t have control over that but rather focusing on what we have control on, that is, what we can do for ourselves.
So, we as an association has been building the capacity of our business community to be more innovative and creative with our products, business and business models, diversify to basic needs products, particularly food and its value chain, work on standardisation as it makes us more competitive, particularly with the imported products, explore exports to open up more markets and earn foreign currency, improve on our packaging with special focus on small and light packages, adopt technology to reduce transportation, general costs, logistics, use of
Meanwhile, MAN and ASBON told newsmen that the increase in fuel price could lead to further rise in inflation, increased costs of production and logistics, low demand, rising inventory, and consequent loss of jobs.
Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said: “In terms of what the impact might be and judging from what we have witnessed in the past, the cost of transportation may increase, and so would the prices of goods and services. These are pointers to the high possibility of a rise in inflation figures, impacting household budgets.
