By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Director General of Small, Micro and . Medium-sized Development Agency ( SMEDAN), Mr Charles Amii on Tuesday disclosed that over fourteen thousand entrepreneurs have been trained under the Inspire, Create, Start and Scale framework.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day program for MSMES in Abuja, the Director General explained that the number goes beyond a statistic as the vast majority are young Nigerians who arrived without the structure, documentation, or financial literacy that lenders require, and who left with all three.
According to him, behind every one of those fourteen thousand is a business with a stronger foundation and an entrepreneur with a clearer, more credible path forward.
He further pointed out that
training alone was never the destination, adding that SMEDAN has established the ICSS Institute at its Garki Annex Office as a permanent institutional home for this curriculum.
“We have secured licensing from the Federal Ministry of Education so that the certificates our graduates hold carry formal, nationally recognised accreditation. An ICSS certificate will now become a credential that the formal economy recognises. That changes the conversation our entrepreneurs have with financial institutions in a very practical and meaningful way.
“We are also in the process of updating our National MSME Policy to embed the ICSS curriculum as the standard framework for entrepreneurship education across Nigeria. We are actively driving adoption of this policy at the state level, among business development service providers, and across the wider ecosystem. A successful programme becomes a national standard through policy, and that is the direction we are moving in deliberately and with urgency.
He commended the GIZ and the German Government, for investigating in the programme and sustained it strategically from the beginning.
“You committed at a time when the outcomes were still being proven and remained committed long enough to see the programme produce results of national significance. On behalf of SMEDAN and on behalf of every entrepreneur whose path has been changed by this framework, thank you’,: he added..
The ICSS program is an entrepreneurship development initiative that supports MSMEs through capacity building, business advisory, and ecosystem limkagesto foster sustainable enterprise growth.
The program was developed by the Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Development for Decent Employment in Nigeria Programme – SEDIN under the German Sgency for Development (GIZ), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and is implemented by SMEDAN Kaduna Business School and COPA Consultancy.
To every Partner Organisation and Partner Institution that has delivered this curriculum in communities across Nigeria, the impact of ICSS lives in your work. You are where the policy meets the person, and we are grateful for your dedication.
In his address at the event, the Country Director of GIZ in Nigeria, said MSMEs are very vital to Nigeria’s economy, contributing to employment creation, innovation
He disclosed that
through the ICSS framework, over, 42,250 people have already been reached across six states in Nigeria, providing aspiring and growing entrepreneurs with access to structured entrepreneurship development support, while about 17,967 employments created through
ICSS (60% of these numbers are women).
He further disclosed that more than 380 ICSS Trainers Facilitators and Coaches as well as about 100 ICSS Master Trainers have been trained through over 40 Partner Organisations and Institutions, thereby creating a growing network of professionals who are able to deliver
entrepreneurship training and mentoring sustainably across the country.
“These achievements are important not only because of the numbers involved, but because they represent capacity that now exists within Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem’, he said
He disclosed that the ICSS framework is therefore more than a training programme. It represents a practical
system that connects entrepreneurs with the knowledge, mentorship, and networks needed to transform ideas into viable businesses.
Building on this, the launch of the digital learning platform ICSSLearn expands access even further by allowing entrepreneurs to build business knowledge through flexible online learning.
Platforms such as this help ensure that entrepreneurship support can reach more people particularly young entrepreneurs.
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