President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Charles Odii as the new Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), effective today.

Until recently, Charles was the Founder and Executive Director of SME100Africa, an organization notable for empowering and equipping young entrepreneurs in Nigeria with access to finance, markets, inspiring networks, and capacity development initiatives to grow.

Under the leadership of Charles, SME100 Africa achieved numerous milestones, most notable of all being the Africa Small Business Summit, 25Under25 Awards, and Young Entrepreneur Programs, Entrepreneurship World Cup, to mention a few. He also had direct involvement in the sourcing of funds for 1356 small business owners and broadening the horizon of 4002 new businesses into new frontiers. He raised $2M to invest in small businesses and grew the SME100 Africa community by over 500% as well as the SME100 Africa team. He partnered with the US Consulate in Nigeria and other top multinationals in Nigeria including Google to hold and execute impact projects in Nigeria.

Charles Odii has always been an expert in entrepreneurship and business start-up-related matters as he spent most of his career focused on creating social change and making a difference in the business world.

Charles holds a BSc in Management and Information Systems from Covenant University and an MSc in Media and Communication from Pan Atlantic University.

As the DG of SMEDAN, Charles will be responsible for promoting the development of SMEs in Nigeria by providing various forms of support, guidance, and resources for their growth.