Thank you for attending the August 2022 Webinar which took place on 5th August. We shall be updating this page with the resources collated from the webinar. Please stay tuned. Thank you, Talking Trade Team.
Talking Trade Webinar – August 2022 Edition: “Towards a Non-Oil Export Driven Economy: The Role of SMEDAN.”
Date: Saturday, August 6th 2022.
Time: 12 pm ET (US & Canada), 5 pm (West Africa Time)
- Guest Speaker: Olawale Fasanya. Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria-SMEDAN
Moderator/Anchor: Lady Kay
Host/Convener : Olufemi Boyede, CITP
Guest Speaker Profile
In June this year, Mr Fasanya became the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Long before this, in 2003, he was among the pioneer staff of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), where he served as a Special Assistant to the Pioneer Director General/CEO of the Agency, Mrs Modupe Adelaja. He then served as Acting Director General of SMEDAN from July to December 2008.
He became the Group Head of Strategic Planning, Policy and Coordination from April 2009- January 2011. Following this, Mr Fasanya was appointed as Director, Strategic Planning Policy and Coordination. In 2014 he was promoted to Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion, a post he held till 2018 when he was appointed to become the Director, Policy Planning, Research Monitoring and Evaluation. In June 2022, he became the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
MR Fasanya’s Core Accomplishments – a few of his achievements include, among others:
• Project Director for implementing the reviewed National Policy on MSMEs 2021 to date.
•Project Director 1st SMEDAN Agency-Wide 2021 – 2025 Strategic Management Plan.
• Project Director, SMEDAN/NBS National Survey on MSMEs (2021)
Delegation Leader to various trade fairs and congresses, including to the
the United Nations General Assembly, in October 2021.
• Member, ECOWAS Committee on the production of MSMEs Development Charter for Member States (2012-2014)
• Head of Secretariat National Council on MSMEs (2011 till date)
• Project Director – One Local Government One Product Initiative (2010 – 2015)
Mr Fasanya’s affiliations include:
- International Council for Small Business (ICSB)
• Member, International Small Business Entrepreneur.
• Associate Member Nigeria, Institute of Public Relations
• Associate Member, Nigerian Institute of Management.
• Post Graduate Diploma in Market Oriented Small Business (International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization ILO, Turin, Italy 2008).
Please click here to read the full bio of Mr Olawale Fasanya.
Olawale Fasanya.
Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria- SMEDAN
Presentations Mr Fasanya is also credited with several presentations on MSMEs Development (Local and International) • National Enterprise Development Programme (Programme Launch, Abuja 2012) • Presentation of Status of MSMEs Development in Nigeria (FSS 2020 Committee Retreat September 2012) • Presentation on MSMEs Competitiveness in Nigeria (Singapore Cooperation Programme Training Award, Singapore, January 2012) • Presentation on SME Policies & Development Strategy in Nigeria (2nd OECD Ministerial Conference on SMEs, Istanbul, Turkey, June 2004) • Investment Opportunities in The Nigeria MSMEs Sector, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 2008 among several others. Mr Fasanya is happily married with three lovely children.
About The Talking Trade Webinars
The Talking Trade with Femi Boyede Webinars has been set up to discuss, in a professional manner, all the angles related to the various issues that a firm, an individual, or a country can expect to confront as they design, implement or modify their strategic processes to manage global trade. It is a virtual platform for engaging discussions on international trade; its components, the values international trade offers to individuals, corporations, and countries, such as the reduction of poverty, creation of employment, increased corporate profitability and the growth of national economies, among others.
Expected Outputs and Outcomes
The outputs of the Trade Webinar series will include:
a. Webinar Report: A summary of key findings and policy recommendations distilled from each session, combinations of sessions, papers, and keynote speeches.
b. The proceedings of the webinars, incorporating relevant comments and feedback from peer review and webinar participants will be published after the episode or quarter.
c. Presentation of these findings and recommended solutions will be made to relevant governments agencies, ministries and parastatals as well as other identified stakeholders.
d. Our inhouse team will track results of the webinar series, and make updates available to subscribers and stakeholders.
The Moderator /Anchor
Kemi Amusan popularly known as Lady Kay is a linguist (French and English), an Editor, a Crisis Prevention Intervention Trainer and a community leader (leading several thousands of blacks) as the immediate past president of the Nigerian-Canadian Association in Greater Toronto Area, Canada. She currently works as an Assistant Registrar in a great university in the Caribbean. Lady Kay gives back to the community as the Senior Advocate of Global Women Ambassadors, Canada. In this role, she organizes programs to educate, elevate and facilitate many socio-cultural, entrepreneurship, immigration, educative, empowerment programs for families. Lady Kay is also the host of Agbajo Owo and Ask Lady Kay – the broadcasting arms of Global Women Ambassadors that seek to ‘build the community, one family at a time’.
The Host /Convener
Olufemi Boyede, CITP has over thirty years of professional experience in international trade and strategy, policy advocacy and human capital development. He has broad expertise in trade and business environment improvement, regional integration frameworks, trade linkages, services exports, public-private dialogue and advocacy on non-oil exports and enterprise development issues.
He has a strong background in private sector management positions and consulting roles in the business, trade and logistics communities, and more recently has held numerous senior trade and export development positions in Nigeria’s public and private sectors. In addition to several Consultancy assignments with International Agencies including the World Bank, DFID, GIZ, USAID, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Trade Centre (ITC).
‘Femi’s 30 years of international trade expertise places him in a leveraged position to provide professional advice to worldwide with clients (both importers and exporters) helping them to successfully navigate the day to day complexities of the international trade industry.
His passion to increase awareness and equip international trade stakeholders forms the basis for these series of webinars.