The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria has hinted of its plans to collaborate with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to implement joint nationwide sensitization campaigns on “Financing SMEs through the Capital Market.”
The Director-General of the commission, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, who made this disclosure during a meeting with SMEDAN’s management team on Tuesday in Abuja, said the agencies would also co-brand financial literacy content and SME investment-readiness toolkits.
Agama said the meeting was convened to initiate a strategic collaboration between the SEC and the SMEDAN to support small business financing through access to the capital.
According to him, the engagement aligns with the mandate of SEC’s newly established Office of Small Business Advocacy (OSBA), which was created to serve as the primary interface between SEC and SMEs seeking to raise capital via securities issuance.
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He explained: “SMEs represent over 90% of businesses in Nigeria and contribute significantly to employment and GDP. Despite their importance, most SMEs face significant barriers in accessing long-term, affordable financing.
“SEC, through the OSBA, is actively working to broaden access to market-based financing instruments for SMEs. SMEDAN is a statutory stakeholder in the MSME space with deep knowledge, nationwide networks, and relevant data infrastructure to support SME development and a collaborative framework between SEC and SMEDAN will foster synergies for policy innovation, capacity building, and SME investment readiness”, the Director-General added.
Agama further disclosed that the commission sought to formalize a partnership with SMEDAN to implement coordinated interventions in data sharing by secure access to reliable and verified SME data to enable capital market outreach and segmentation and joint use of SME analytics for market readiness assessments and policy insights.
He said the SEC hoped to design and deliver training programmes for SMEs on capital market funding opportunities, governance, and compliance as well as co-host a National SME Capital Market Summit in Q3 or Q4 to showcase financing opportunities for SMEs”.
While harping on the need to harness Nigeria’s entrepreneurial potentials through inclusive capital formation, the investment expert stressed that there would be no economy without the capital market.
He clarified: “The capital market is the engine room of any economy, and the reason companies are not approaching the market is due to lack of funds, so we are here to change the narrative because we are aware that SMEs are the backbone of our economy. By working with SMEDAN we can create enabling frameworks that will help these businesses access long-term funding from the capital market.
“The capital market is the engine room of any economy and the reasons companies are not approaching the market is due to lack of funds. So we are here to change the narrative because we are aware that SMEs are the backbone of our economy, and by working with SMEDAN, we can create enabling frameworks that will help these businesses access long-term funding from the capital market”, Agama added.
In his remarks, the Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii, expressed optimism that the collaboration would be a game-changer for Nigeria’s SME landscape.
He said: “This alliance with the SEC aligns perfectly with our mandate to upscale and formalize the informal sector. By introducing SMEs to non-traditional funding avenues like bonds, equities, crowdfunding, and other market instruments, we can empower more businesses to scale sustainably.”
At the close of the meeting, the commission and the SMEDAN leaderships agreed on a shared commitment to establish a national working team that will streamline SMEs’ onboarding processes for capital market participation, develop targeted investor education programmes, and create innovative financing models tailored to the needs of small businesses.
Experts believe that the partnership marks a desirable step towards Nigeria’s inclusive economic development and that is expected to catalyze job creation, industrial growth, and financial inclusion across the country.
Photo Caption
L-R: Head Office of Small Business Advocacy SEC Mrs. Ojone Kabir, , Director General, SEC Dr. Emomotimi Agama, Director General, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) Mr. Charles Odii and Executive Commissioner, Legal and Enforcement, SEC Ms. Frana Chukwuogor, during a meeting to unlock the growth of SMEs in Nigeria held on Tuesday in Abuja
