The FATE Foundation has announced that it will host the 11th edition of its Policy Dialogue Series on November 19, 2025, in Lagos.
It disclosed this at a press conference held on Thursday in Lagos, ahead of the Foundation’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
Themed “From Enterprise to Industry: Unlocking MSME Potential for Nigeria’s Industrialisation,” the dialogue is expected to bring together policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs to discuss strategies for strengthening Nigeria’s industrial base and promoting economic growth.
Executive Director Adenike Adeyemi said the 25th anniversary reflects both the impact of FATE Foundation’s work and its renewed responsibility to drive national transformation through enterprise development.
“We are celebrating a quarter century of creating wealth through entrepreneurship,” she said. “Our Policy Dialogue Series has been instrumental in ensuring that entrepreneurs thrive in a viable policy environment.”
During the dialogue, the Foundation will launch two major reports: the Fifth State of Entrepreneurship Report and a new Industrialisation Report, both based on field research across 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Adeyemi emphasised that FATE Foundation’s policy work follows a structured four-stage approach – Research, Dialogue, Advocacy, and Implementation – to ensure reforms translate into tangible benefits for entrepreneurs.
The 2025 Policy Dialogue will feature a firechat with Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh, alongside two plenary sessions focusing on access to finance, digital transformation, energy, and infrastructure for industrial growth.
FATE Foundation is Nigeria’s foremost business development organisation committed to enabling aspiring and emerging Nigerian entrepreneurs to start, grow, and scale their businesses.
Founded in 2000 by Fola Adeola, with the support of other leading private sector leaders, the Foundation aims to harness Nigeria’s high-potential entrepreneurship culture to spur job creation, economic development, and social impact.
Chairperson Cecilia Akintomide, Chairperson of the 2025 PDS Technical Committee and Chair of the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, said the dialogue comes at a crucial time as Nigeria seeks to realise its trillion-dollar economic ambition.
“Trading at the lowest levels of the value chain will not get us there. We need to move higher, and that means industrialisation,” she said.
Vice Chair Dr Femi Egbesola, Vice Chair of the 2025 PDS Technical Committee and President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria, highlighted that MSMEs remain Nigeria’s economic backbone but face structural challenges.
“Of the 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria, 99.8 per cent are micro businesses. If they don’t grow into small, medium, and large enterprises, industrialisation will remain rhetoric,” he said.
Senior Research Fellow Dr Wilson Erumebor, Senior Research Fellow at The FATE Institute and Principal Economist at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, added that the dialogue will provide actionable strategies to integrate MSMEs into Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda while informing policy reforms.
Both the State of Entrepreneurship Report and the Industrialization Report will be made available for free download immediately after the event.
For 25 years, FATE Foundation has provided entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to succeed in their entrepreneurial journey through various initiatives, including entrepreneurship training programmes, business incubation and acceleration, mentorship and coaching, access to finance and markets, research and policy advocacy, and scholarship programmes.
