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By Doris Obinna
Germany has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s small businesses, with €34 million earmarked for economic development, vocational training and employment under a new €65 million bilateral funding agreement for 2026 and 2027.
The conference, held in Lagos, was organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, commissioned by the German Government, with co-funding from the governments of Denmark and Switzerland and the European Union.
The Deputy Consul General of Germany, Katharina Ziegler, disclosed this at the 2026 National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Conference, GROW Nigerian, in Lagos, saying the funding reflected Germany’s priority of creating opportunities for businesses to grow and people to prosper.
She said the agreement, reached by the Nigerian and German governments in May 2026, underscored the importance of supporting enterprises, improving skills and expanding employment opportunities.
Ziegler commended SMEDAN for organising the conference, noting that Germany had supported the annual platform since 2023 through GIZ, in cooperation with the European Union, Switzerland and Denmark.
She said Nigeria was Germany’s second-largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, with bilateral trade valued at approximately €3 billion annually, while bilateral development cooperation had exceeded €1 billion.
According to her, Germany, through GIZ, was working with Nigerian institutions and private sector partners to improve access to finance, vocational skills, business development services and digitalisation.
She disclosed that GIZ’s Digitalisation Service Points, in collaboration with SMEDAN, had supported more than 1,200 MSMEs to adopt digital solutions and improve their competitiveness.
She added that the Inspire, Create, Start and Scale (ICSS) programme trained more than 40,000 entrepreneurs between 2018 and 2023, while over 30,000 Nigerians acquired vocational skills and more than 7,000 secured employment.
Also speaking, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, described MSMEs as the real engine of economic growth, saying small businesses employing even four or five people played a critical role in sustaining the Nigerian economy.
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Sanwo-Olu said government support must go beyond financial interventions to addressing infrastructure challenges, particularly transportation, electricity and regulatory costs, which continue to make business operations difficult.
He said Lagos State had supported nearly 39,000 businesses through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, providing tens of billions of naira in single-digit loans, grants and other financing interventions.
The governor also disclosed that the state had introduced grants of between N10 million and N50 million for technology startups through its innovation and research initiatives, alongside interventions in the creative and movie industries.
He urged business owners not to abandon their enterprises despite prevailing economic difficulties, assuring them that his administration would continue to listen to their concerns and create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
Earlier, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, disclosed that the Federal Government had approved a N6 billion waiver to formalise 250,000 informal businesses across the country.
Odii, who put the number of MSMEs in Nigeria at approximately 39.6 million, explained that the waiver would ease the cost of business registration and help more informal enterprises become formal.
He also disclosed that the Federal Government had committed N200 billion to business support packages for nano businesses, while SMEDAN had mobilised an additional N12 billion in single-digit interest loans for small businesses.
According to him, the agency had trained 1,765,000 businesses in the last 12 months, expanded access to shared production facilities and work tools, and strengthened business advisory and capacity-building support.
Odii said SMEDAN had secured approval from the Federal Ministry of Education to establish its own polytechnic to provide training for entrepreneurs, while a $12 million investment had been secured for its Abuja Centre for Entrepreneurship through KUIPER.
The conference, held under the theme “The Next Frontier for Innovation, Policy and Market Access”, brought together entrepreneurs, policymakers, financial institutions and development partners to explore opportunities for business growth. It also featured the Nigeria First Fair, exhibitions, masterclasses and the Zero to 100 pitch competition, with 230 businesses showcasing their products and services.
