Google Nigeria, in partnership with digital payments company, Flutterwave, will commence a series of business clinics aimed at helping 5,000 merchants across Nigeria acquire the skills and tools needed.

Tolulope Akinyele, Google Partners Lead, West Africa, made this known in Lagos on Thursday.

The skills and tools needed would leverage the Web for growth of the training tagged ‘Digital Business Compass’.

The first clinic session would commence from March 3 to March 5 in Lagos.

Akinyele said that the training would focus on equipping businesses with the tools, technologies and insights needed for them to grow in the digital age.

He said that the sessions would include case studies and live sessions to give attending businesses hands-on experience of how Google and Flutterwave products could be leveraged.

He said that the sessions would be followed by consultations with Digital Business Managers and support teams, who would give attendees personalised advice on how they can use Google and Flutterwave tools and solutions to grow their businesses.

“According to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigeria has over 37.07 million Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), which account for more than 84 percent of jobs in the country.

“Many of them lack the skills and tools to take advantage of the Web to grow their businesses.

“However. working with Flutterwave, our goal for holding these clinics is to provide a platform for SMEs to learn skills and master tools that will help them better utilise the Web to grow their businesses,” Akinyele said in a statement.

The Chief Executive Officer, Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, said the organisation had always been passionate about inspiring a new wave of prosperity across Africa.

According to him, we are in partnership with Google with the aim to empowering SMEs across Africa to scale and drive up revenue.

“Helping these businesses grow is a net positive for all parties including Google.

“Beyond contributing to the growth of the country’s digital economy, when these businesses better learn about online tools, they join a community of businesses and users that are leveraging Google’s tools to further drive their growth,’’ Agboola said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Flutterwave, founded in 2016, enables its customers to build customisable payment applications through its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). (NAN)