The 9th Annual SME Conference of the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) comes up on September 10, 2015.

The conference, themed, “SMEs: the Emerging Horizon”, is slated to commence at 9am at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos State.

The first session of the conference will focus on Politics, Policies and SMEs: Matters Arising; while the second session will feature a discourse titled, Stop Complaining – Embrace Innovation. The third session is tagged, Conversation with the CEO.

The Keynote Speaker, Professor Pat Utomi is a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and Senior Faculty at the Lagos Business School.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Coscharis Group, Dr Cosmas Maduka is Guest Speaker.

Other speakers include; “The founder of DO.11 Designs, a furniture making and interior decoration company, Mrs Ifeyinwa Ighodalo; the Co-Founder and CEO of Supermart, Mr. Raphael Afaedor; A Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Babajide Omoworare; An Executive Director (ED) at Heritage Bank, Mrs. Mary Akpabome; A prominent businessman with extensive experience and interests across the banking, finance and agricultural spectrums, Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere (Ijewere & Co); and General Manager of Uber Lagos, Ebi Atawodi.

A statement by the organisers made available to News Express said: “Every year, Enterprise Development Centre brings together its members and other SME stakeholders both in the public and private sector to meet and discuss contemporary issues affecting growing small businesses in Nigeria.

“This networking event provides a forum that strengthens the entrepreneurial space and contributes largely to the continuous development of the SME ecosystem. The learning and sharing event features solutions to mutual SME challenges, networking, and plenary sessions on topical issues with seasoned intellectuals and entrepreneurs.”

•Photo shows Prof. Utomi.