Category: Business

Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium enterprises received fresh backing as policymakers, financiers, and industry leaders gathered to push a coordinated agenda for scaling local production.

At the Go Local Summit 2025, promoted by BusinessDay newspaper and Providus Bank, speakers warned that the country’s ambition for a stronger naira and a more competitive economy would remain out of reach until MSMEs were given the tools, markets, and infrastructure needed to grow beyond survival mode.

The summit, themed Go Local: From Raw Potential to Market Power, brought together artisans, manufacturers, agro-processors, fashion houses, beauty entrepreneurs, textile producers, and food innovators.

It sought to shift the country from exporting raw potential to exporting finished excellence. With many MSMEs still battling low demand and poor access to finance, the gathering stressed that local consumption must deepen if domestic production is to mature into globally competitive industries.

In the keynote address titled ‘The Naira Starts at Home: How Local Consumption Drives National Prosperity,’ Dr Olubunmi Kole Dawodu, Lagos State Manager of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said the choices Nigerians make in the marketplace directly determine the strength of the currency.

He noted that consumer preference remained tilted toward foreign goods, leaving local producers with limited market access. He added that when Nigerians buy local, they “cast monetary votes” that fuel GDP growth, create jobs, and reduce pressure on the naira.

Dawodu argued that currency stability could not depend on central bank intervention alone. He explained that sustainable strengthening of the naira would come from expanding productive capacity and boosting demand for goods made in the country.

He urged consumers, wholesalers, and government buyers to prioritise local sourcing, insisting that a strong domestic market was the foundation of industrialisation.

Panel discussions examined hurdles stalling MSME growth. In the first session, ‘From heritage to high street: Scaling local products without losing soul,’ panelists, including Dr Ayoola Oduntan of Amo Farm, Seromume Ikogho of Detail Africa, Uche Nnaji of OUCH, Amit Bose of Valency Agro, and Flora Mbeledeogu of MABA, examined how traditional crafts and indigenous materials could be industrialised without losing cultural authenticity.

They said Nigerian producers had the creative base to compete globally, but needed structured value chains and predictable operating environments.

The second panel, ‘The go local economy: Financing, distributing, and marketing for scale,’ moderated a solutions-driven conversation around the bottlenecks that keep MSMEs small. Speakers such as Hamma Ali Kwajaffa of the Nigeria Textile Manufacturers Association, Damilola Feyide of Providus Bank, Dr Oladapo Abdulateef Famuyiwa of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and Seye Olurotimi of MSME Africa pointed to the high cost of logistics and energy as major constraints.

They also identified access to finance, weak distribution networks, and poor e-commerce infrastructure as factors limiting the growth of local producers.

Despite the challenges, the summit highlighted success stories that show what is possible when MSMEs are properly supported. The event’s one million naira cash prize for the outstanding exhibitor went to Chekwas Okafor of ONCHEK/Merok, which operates the only vertically integrated garment factory in Nigeria.

The recognition emphasised the summit’s long-standing message that local products can be scaled sustainably and priced competitively against imports.

Beyond its sessions, the summit featured a vibrant exhibition marketplace showcasing promising MSMEs from food innovation to textiles, as well as a Pitch Your Business segment that connected entrepreneurs with financiers and policymakers.