Oluchi Chibuzor

The FATE Institute has called for a rethink of Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda, urging policymakers to put micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at the heart of the nation’s growth strategy.

The call comes ahead of the 2025 Policy Dialogue Series (PDS) themed, ‘From Enterprise to Industry: Unlocking MSME Potential for Nigeria’s Industrialization.’

Speaking, the Director of the Institute, Amaka Nwaokolo, said the FATE Institute was established to bridge the gap between evidence and policy by producing data-driven insights to shape Nigeria’s entrepreneurship landscape.

According to her,“Entrepreneurship is the engine of inclusive growth. By understanding the realities of small business owners, we can co-create policies that remove barriers and unlock their potential.”

However, the Chairperson of the PDS Technical Committee, Cecilia Akintomide, said Nigeria’s industrial success depends on how productive its millions of small businesses become.

“We can’t keep treating entrepreneurship and industrialization as separate things,” she noted. “Industrial policies must make room for small businesses to grow and scale.”

Senior Research Fellow at the FATE Institute, Dr. Wilson Erumebor, revealed that Nigeria’s entrepreneurship index rose slightly to 0.47 in 2025, the first increase since inception. Youth-led firms showed resilience, with 65.8 per cent reporting growth, while female-led businesses outperformed males at 69.2 per cent.

“This tells us that when women get even a fraction of the support they need, they deliver remarkable results,” Erumebor said