Nigeria's Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency granted N2.05m to five exceptional women entrepreneurs. 

The grant was presented during the inaugural Speed Pitch Competition held at the Eko Convention Center in Lagos.

This competition aims to improve financial literacy and provide small businesses with opportunities to secure funding for expansion.

According to Peter Adeshina, the media aide to the director general, the entrepreneurs secured the funding for their businesses by presenting to a live audience and a panel of judges consisting of prominent individuals from both the private and public sectors.

The grant comprises N1.5m from SMEDAN and N550,000 in donations from event sponsors and individuals.

Adeshina mentioned that the five selected businesses for the first edition of the pitch competition showcased their unique business attributes and growth plans to over 1,800 women entrepreneurs.

They also made a compelling case for why their businesses deserved the financial grants.

Following the presentations, Kanyinsola Demola-Seriki of Shea Tribe emerged as the winner of the competition after receiving feedback from the judges, who evaluated the presentations based on storytelling and business potential.

 She was awarded a prize of one million naira for her business.

In second position was Ogunkoya Goodness Adeola of Eco-Haven, an eco-friendly waste management company, who won the sum of 500,000 naira. Ahmod Mistura of Jumish ICT Services came third, winning 250,000 naira in grants. The other two participants, Eccentric Menswear and Ayosifam Integrated Service, each received the sum of 150,000 naira.

In his speech, the Director-General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, who introduced the novel initiative at the agency, said it was an important opportunity to enhance the financial literacy of women-owned entrepreneurs and provide lessons on how to organize and market their businesses to attract funding.

Odii also announced SMEDAN’s readiness to stage the competition in other states of the country to expose more deserving SMEs to funding and recognition.

He said, “SMEDAN will organize masterclasses for SMEs on how to structure and pitch their businesses. This will involve some of the most successful founders and business managers.

“The goal is to ensure that SMEs gain access to knowledge and mentorship to maximize other resources and support we will be providing, including finance and tools.”

He shared some of the agency’s empowerment programs and initiatives, including its common facility centres established to lower the cost of production and provide discounted access to modern tools.

According to him, SMEs are central to the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, given that they comprise over 90 per cent of businesses in the country and are responsible for most jobs.

The attendees expressed that the event had a significant impact and demonstrated SMEDAN’s strong dedication to increasing access to finance and motivating entrepreneurs to not only establish businesses focused on growth, but also to develop essential skills such as storytelling and marketing in order to seize opportunities.

The announcement encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises to monitor the agency’s social media platforms (@smedangov) for updates on upcoming events designed to support their development, which is part of SMEDAN’s ‘GROW Nigerian’ strategy aimed at promoting local production and facilitating exports in seven key sectors, including agriculture and food; fashion, textile, hide and skin; creative and digital economy; education and learning; tourism; light manufacturing