The Women in Self-Empowerment Programme (WISE-P), an initiative of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has strengthened the capacity of 40 women from different cooperatives in agro-processing and fashion.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr Charles Odii, represented by Lagos State Manager of SMEDAN, Dr. Bunmi Kole-Dawodu, made this known on Thursday at a two-day workshop organised by the agency in Lagos State.
Odii said that the two-day intensive capacity-building workshop aimed to advance women’s economic participation through cooperative development.
He added that it would enhance production quality, regulatory compliance and market readiness of women-led cooperatives in agro-processing and fashion.
Odii said the workshop would address critical capacity gaps across both value chains with focus on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) for agro-processors.
He hoped that knowledge from the workshop would drive structured production workflows and quality control systems for fashion cooperatives.
The director-general said that the women would be taught regulatory alignment with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
“They would also be equipped with tools for shelf-life optimisation, packaging, labelling and product presentation, with customised action plans for each cooperative. The women would be trained in financial literacy, basic bookkeeping and inventory control,” he said.
Odii reiterated the agency’s commitment to economic empowerment of women and inclusive growth through strategic training, innovation and policy support.
He said the agency would continue with its Guidance, Resource, Opportunities and Workforce (GROW) strategy focusing on providing support to the over 30 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
“By equipping our cooperatives with tools for quality assurance, regulatory compliance and market integration, we are laying the groundwork for sustainable economic transformation at the grassroots level,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the cooperatives that benefitted from the capacity building are Florish Commercial Fish Farmers, Blessed Sister Cooperatives, Agricultural Multipurpose Cooperative Society, COWAN Cooperatives and Ifesowapo Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
