A former Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has established a new platform, Ni- dacity, to equip Nigerian entrepreneurs, particularly young and female founders, with the practical education, mentorship, and timely business intelligence they need to build resilient and thriving businesses.

Nidacity, a private sector educational media platform dedicated to entrepreneurs, officially went live on Tuesday, March 31.

Adeosun, alongside a group of entrepreneurs and professionals, seeks to tackle Nigeria’s 95 per cent startup failure rate through Nidacity, beginning with a landmark national survey on the roots of Nigerian enterprise.

She stated, “The timing is urgent. Nigeria has the world’s highest entrepreneurship rate, yet as many as 95% of Nigerian startups do not survive beyond five years.

“With Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) accounting for 85 per cent of all employment in the country, the human cost of that failure is felt in every community across the nation.”

The former minister, however, found a powerful and actionable opportunity in the same numbers.

According to her, “Nigeria’s entrepreneurs are already doing something extraordinary — they are creating the vast majority of jobs in this country, from the ground up, often with very little support.

“The data tells us something remarkable: if we can help more of these businesses survive and grow, the employment gains for Nigeria will be enormous. Ni- dacity is not a charity — it is an investment in the people who are already building this economy. Make them better, and everyone benefits.”