Nigerian small businesses will struggle to benefit from the country’s economic reforms unless they strengthen their financial management, adopt digital tools and comply with regulatory requirements, according to Muyiwa Femi-Pearse, Managing Director of The SME Mall. He spoke on the Federal Government’s N200 billion MSME intervention fund, banking sector reforms, and the growing use of digital technology by businesses.
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The weaknesses he named
Femi-Pearse identified poor financial management, inadequate business planning, limited technology adoption and weak operational structures as the main factors preventing small businesses from expanding. These are not new complaints. They are the same gaps lenders and grant managers cite when they decline applications, and they largely sit within the business owner’s control.
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What digital tools can change
On technology, he said SMEs need to build digital tools into their operations to improve customer engagement, manage transactions, monitor inventory and reach a wider market. For a trader who still records sales by hand, a simple digital record of daily transactions does two jobs. It shows the owner where money is going, and it creates the paper trail a lender needs before approving credit.
Funds reach the businesses that can prove they are ready to use them. Clean books, a registered business and a digital record of sales are what separate an applicant a lender can assess from one it cannot.
The N200 billion fund
The intervention fund Femi-Pearse referred to comprises N50 billion in grants, N75 billion in loans for MSMEs and N75 billion for manufacturers, with eligible manufacturers able to access up to N1 billion each through the Bank of Industry. The programme aims to expand credit access for 250,000 MSMEs, including 150,000 women-led businesses and 100,000 agricultural enterprises. The World Bank estimates that fewer than one in 20 Nigerian MSMEs currently has access to bank credit, so the fund addresses a real gap.
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Both sides of the bargain
Femi-Pearse also placed responsibility on the institutions that run the programmes. He called on financial institutions, development organisations and government agencies to make intervention schemes accessible, transparent and responsive to the needs of small business owners. Government support and private-sector investment, he said, are both needed to create an environment in which SMEs can contribute more effectively to job creation, economic development and wealth generation.
The reforms create the opening. Whether a given business walks through it depends on records, registration and routine digital habits that cost little but take discipline to build.
