The Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Charles Odii, has unveiled a robust agenda for the country’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises sector in 2026, promising increased business formalisation, capacity development, and access to cheap financing for small businesses.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja to highlight the agency’s achievements in 2025, Odii disclosed that SMEDAN will be seeking regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate a microfinance bank and from the Ministry of Education to run a polytechnic and mono-technic offering diplomas in entrepreneurship education.
According to Odii, the key lesson from 2025 is that “good things take time,” and he promised that 2026 will see the unfolding of several initiatives that have been in development for the past 18 to 24 months.
Odii revealed that by the first quarter of 2026, SMEDAN expects to have formalised 250,000 new businesses, with efforts underway to secure the formalisation of an additional one million enterprises.
“We would be revealing five things to be done in 2026, and the first one will basically be the formalisation of our small businesses. In 2026, by Q1 2026, we should have handed over 250,000 new registered businesses. And we are currently, I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag, but we are pushing with the presidency for another one million businesses to be formalised.
“So the last time we counted, we had about 39,634,285 nano micro-small and medium enterprises. But we are very certain that even though these are interesting times for our small businesses, that number will go up because of the formalisation process that is happening around and will be unveiled in 2026. So we’ll get new small businesses, we’ll formalise new small businesses,” he said.
The DG also announced that the national MSME policy, which guides the sector for five years, is currently under review.
“The policy is due to be announced by December 31, 2025. We are engaging stakeholders to provide input, and the draft will be shared with businesses for feedback before submission to the President and the Federal Executive Council for approval,” Odii said.
He emphasised that small businesses must play an active role in shaping policies that affect their operations. SMEDAN is also exploring policies to integrate former inmates into the workforce. Odii explained that the agency provides training six months to a year before their release, helping them gain skills that will make them employable despite societal stigma.
Highlighting funding initiatives, Odii said SMEDAN is brokering $12bn in cheap funding for small businesses, with the goal of expanding access to over 3 million SMEs. He noted that the agency has trained approximately 6,000 businesses under its ICSS curriculum, with plans to double or quadruple this figure in 2026 to enhance access to financing and entrepreneurial skills.
To address challenges such as lack of workspace and access to equipment, SMEDAN has modernised several industrial development centres across the country, including a centre located at the agency headquarters in Abuja, Katsina, Osun, and Ikorodu. These hubs provide small business owners access to affordable workspaces, tools, and power. Plans are underway to replicate such facilities nationwide, to create 774 operational centres to help reduce unemployment and insecurity.
Odii highlighted SMEDAN’s Conditional Grant Scheme, which disbursed grants to over 18,000 nano-businesses this year, enabling many to expand operations and create jobs. The agency also launched the One Local Government, One Product initiative, awarding grants and loans to 3,100 corporations across the country, aimed at developing local resources.
The DG also noted that the National Reach Competition identifies and funds viable business ideas quarterly, with millions of naira disbursed to empower entrepreneurs.
In addition, SMEDAN has registered over 260,000 businesses nationwide, providing them with bank accounts and credit histories to facilitate access to loans and other financial opportunities.
Through partnerships with state governments and commercial banks, SMEDAN has mobilised over N12bn in single-digit interest loans to SMEs in states including Enugu, Kaduna, Katsina, and Zamfara, enabling entrepreneurs to expand working capital, procure workspaces, and acquire tools.
Training remains a priority, with over 14,000 businesses trained in areas such as financial literacy, access to finance, and export readiness under agreements like the African Continental Free Trade Area, enabling SMEs to access African and international markets.
Odii outlined five major focus areas for 2026: business formalisation, policy implementation, funding access, capacity development, and infrastructure expansion.
He emphasised the link between employment, economic empowerment, and national security, stating, “Hunger leads to anger; anger leads to violence. By supporting SMEs, we can tackle insecurity at its root.”
Odii also disclosed plans to introduce licenses for operating a microfinance bank and entrepreneurship-focused polytechnic in 2026, aimed at broadening direct funding channels and offering accredited diplomas in business education.
The DG concluded by urging small businesses and stakeholders to engage actively with SMEDAN, leverage its platforms, and participate in the ongoing reforms and opportunities aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s MSME ecosystem.
MSMEs form the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, accounting for more than 90 per cent of businesses nationwide and employing tens of millions of Nigerians across the informal and formal sectors. However, the sector has long been constrained by limited access to finance, weak business formalisation, poor infrastructure, and gaps in skills and capacity development, challenges that have been exacerbated by inflationary pressures, high interest rates and rising energy costs.
SMEDAN’s push for regulatory approvals to operate a microfinance bank and establish an entrepreneurship-focused polytechnic reflects a shift towards more direct intervention in financing and skills development.
The agency’s 2025 achievements and its ambitious 2026 targets are therefore positioned as part of a wider government strategy to stabilise the economy, reduce unemployment, and address insecurity by empowering small businesses to grow, formalise, and create sustainable jobs.
