FATE Foundation’s policy dialogue to address finance gap facing Nigerian SMEs 

By Onome Amuge 

FATE Foundation, Nigeria’s foremost non-profit private-sector led organisation, is set to hold the eighth edition of its annual policy dialogue series for business entrepreneurs, aimed at discussing and proffering solutions to the financial gap hindering the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the country.

The event, scheduled for November 17, 2022 at the Ecobank Pan-African Centre in Lagos, also marks the Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The 2022 dialogue series is focused on the theme “Bridging the Access to Finance Gap for Nigerian Entrepreneurs”. Other conversations and sub-themes will centre around designing and scaling sustainable access to finance models, and sustainable policy approaches to bridging the access to finance gap.

As a major highlight of the programme, FATE Foundation will launch two research  reports  titled “2022 State of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria” and “Bridging the Access to Finance Gap for Nigerian Entrepreneurs”. The reports review the access to finance gap in Nigeria, discuss access to finance models, and offer recommendations on bridging the gap.

Notable speakers and industry analysts expected to address key discussion themes include Doyin Salami, chief economic adviser to the Nigerian president; Jonathan Potter, head, entrepreneurship policy and analysis unit, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Teju Abisoye, executive secretary, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), and Olusola Obadimu, director general, National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

Others are Yvonne Johnson, managing director/cofounder, Indicina, Seyi Bella, board director, Fate Foundation, Cecilia Varendh Mansson, founder/CEO, Talent Up, Africa, Isaiah Owolabi, CEO, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFINA), Toyin Bakare, CEO, SAS Textiles and president, Fate Foundation Alumni Community; and Wilson Erumebor, senior economist, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).