65% new businesses die within first 3 years in Nigeria – NASME

By Robert Obi

The Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), on Tuesday, said that 65 per cent of new businesses were moribund within the first three years in operation in Nigeria.
NASME’s director of public relations, Mr Nerus Ekezie, said that the data was derived from some insiders’ research on business longevity rate in the country.
He said that many of the researches identified the harsh environment that most Nigerian businesses operated in as a major setback to their survival.
“Manufacturers are really going through hell trying to do business with the epileptic power supply situation in this country. The bad roads are causing many business outfits to incur more operational costs and forcing them to spend less on direct productive activities.
“Insecurity too in the country has also affected business profit margins negatively. Worse still, many of our financial institutions are not coming to the aid of these new businesses,’’ he said.

The NASME spokesman said that extortion from miscreants and touts on the highways was also causing the timely death of many fresh entrepreneurs.
“We cannot but continue to complain about the problem of multiple taxations on small businesses. It is not good for the survival rate of any enterprise if the local and state government have to collect the same levy from new business outfits severally,’’ he said.
 BusinessNews