The Imo State Investment Promotion Agency, ISIPA, has signed an
agreement with a China- based investment firm, Technotrade, to assist
small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and revamp ailing and
moribund industries in the state.
Addressing journalists after a meeting with the representatives of the
company in Owerri, the chairman and chief executive officer of ISIPA,
Hon. Harmony Aguoru said the agreement was geared towards uplifting
the fortunes of the small and medium scale industries in the state.
He said the state government was concerned that many companies
operating in the state closed shops soon after their establishment,
saying that such a situation was not good for industrial development
of the state.
Part of the partnership deal, Aguoru said, was to find out the reasons
some companies were not doing well in the state with a view to
providing assistance for them.
He disclosed that the agency was making an arrangement to link
industrialists in the to such intervention agencies of the federal
government  as the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA),
Nigeria Export and Import (NEXIM) Bank and other financial
institutions that coul aid them to perform optimally.
Aguoru added that the agency had now opened a data base of the sectors
where the state has comparative advantage to enable investors cue in
without difficulties, adding that the agency had decided to play
advisory roles to investors.
The ISIPA boss also hinted that through the partnership of
Technotrade, the state had now established a liaison office in the
city of Kenjeng, China where Imo businessmen could seek for
investments in the areas of manufacturing, agriculture and general
services.
With the relationship, he said, there would be an economic summit
tagged ‘Imo-China Investment Summit’, which he said would hold in
Kenjeng in the middle of this year.
Speaking also, the leader of Technotrade Global Services, Mr. Chris
Igwe said the company was coming to the state to assist the government
in revamping the SMEs sector, by ensuring that they get the labour,
cash flow and chain supply in cluster development.
He also said the firm would want to address the investment flow from
each council area so as to enable the ISIPA ascertain where certain
industries should be cited.
With the support of the people of the state, he said, their intention
was to make the state a one-stop investment centre.
