Director General of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Modupe Adelaja, has said Nigeria can become one of the 20 largest economies in the world in 2020 if all hands are on deck to foster and nurture entrepreneurship development.
Adelaja made the observation in Abuja at a dinner organised by the agency for the Nigeria team that emerged the 3rd world best in the just concluded Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) world cup competition held in the United State of America (USA).
She said, "With all hands on deck in terms of fostering and nurturing entrepreneurship, Nigeria, within a short period of time, even before the projected 2020, will become one of the leading economies of the world".
Nigeria emerged the 3rd world best following Canada and USA in October after a keen competition with 44 other countries.
Nigeria’s SIFE representatives, students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife became the national winners after competing with 17 universities and three polytechnics in May.
Adelaja explained that the agency, in its efforts to foster entrepreneurship development has come out with series of mechanisms which include collaboration with relevant stakeholders, information provision, enterprise development service, networking and linkage programmes.