Seven-Up Bottling Company (SBC) has convened the first edition of its SME Scale-Up Bootcamp, in partnership with Zenith Bank and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to empower 80 small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The bootcamp, themed, ‘Dream Big, Scale Bigger’ was a two-day workshop designed to empower chief executive officers of fast-rising SMEs on the intricacies of scaling businesses in the Nigerian ecosystem.

Addressing the participants, the Managing Director of SBC, Ziad Maalouf, emphasised the significant contributions of SMEs to Nigeria’s GDP.

He commended the enterprising spirit of Nigerians and stated that the bootcamp was conceived to ensure more entrepreneurs are empowered to scale up their businesses.

“I have lived in Nigeria for 17 years; this scale-up is a way to give back to the economy in a way that has an impact. If we empower all the SMEs present here to scale up and grow to become billion-dollar enterprises, within ten years, they will employ millions of Nigerians, and that way we can say we have paid back,” Maalouf said.

Maalouf, who is also the Chairman of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, outlined ten prerequisites for scaling SMEs.

“Companies that must grow must pay attention to these 10 things: the big idea, passion, cash, value, teamwork, strong business acumen, purpose, network, artificial intelligence and business transformation advice,” he said.