Onome Amuge

The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) has partnered with leading fintech group Moniepoint in an effort to expand access to capital for Nigeria’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), in what business leaders say could help unlock new sources of growth and employment in one of Africa’s largest economies.

The collaboration, unveiled in Lagos at the chamber’s SME-focused forum, comes as policymakers and private institutions are facing the dual challenge of improving credit penetration while bolstering the capacity of smaller firms to compete in a difficult operating environment.

Abimbola Olashore, president and chairman of council at the NBCC, said the initiative underscored the chamber’s ambition to go beyond its traditional mandate of promoting trade flows between Nigeria and the UK. “Today’s event demonstrates how that mission extends beyond traditional trade to include knowledge, innovation, and capacity building: vital elements for SME success in a global economy,” he told delegates.

Nigeria’s SME segment which comprises over 39 million businesses and employs nearly 80 per cent of the workforce, is widely recognised as the backbone of the economy. Yet despite its scale, the sector remains severely undercapitalised, with access to affordable financing consistently cited by entrepreneurs as their most pressing constraint.

Olashore said partnerships such as the one with Moniepoint offered a pathway to narrowing that gap, while creating jobs and strengthening community resilience. “When small businesses thrive, communities flourish, and nations prosper,” he said, adding that “by empowering entrepreneurs, we are creating jobs, fostering innovation, and building a stronger foundation for sustainable economic growth.”

Moniepoint, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing fintech groups, has already built a significant presence among small businesses through its payments and lending platforms. Ezekiel Sanni, the company’s senior vice-president for distribution network sales, said the fintech had disbursed more than N2trillion in working capital loan overdrafts and inventory financing to over 68,000 MSMEs in the past two years.

“What actually happens when money moves?” Sanni asked during his keynote presentation. “At Moniepoint, we have seen the result of money in motion, not just capital being present. Access to finance, when combined with the right tools, has a transformational impact on small business productivity,” he stated. 

He said the company was now powering nearly two million businesses nationwide with digital services ranging from payments and credit to inventory management, in what he described as a network effect designed to improve efficiency and reduce informality in the SME sector.

The chamber and Moniepoint did not disclose financial commitments tied to the new partnership, but both organisations framed the collaboration as a long-term platform for joint projects around financing, business education, and digital capacity building.

The partnership comes at a time when Nigeria’s SMEs are under intensifying pressure from inflation, high borrowing costs, weak infrastructure, and currency volatility. Annual inflation has risen above 30 per cent in 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, while interest rates remain elevated as the central bank seeks to stabilise the naira and curb capital outflows.

Against this backdrop, Sanni argued that private-sector innovation could complement monetary policy by easing financing bottlenecks and reducing business costs. “Over the past decade, many Nigerian SMEs have been left behind in the credit market. Technology allows us to change that—by using data to understand businesses better, by reducing transaction costs, and by moving capital more quickly,” he said.

Olashore stressed that inclusive growth would require sustained collaboration between government, industry, and financial innovators. “Strategic partnerships are vital. Together, we are charting new paths for inclusive growth by ensuring that SMEs are not left behind in the pursuit of prosperity,” he said. 

The NBCC–Moniepoint initiative is expected to roll out sector-specific programmes in areas such as retail, agribusiness, and light manufacturing, with an emphasis on digital tools for managing cash flow, inventory, and customer relationships. Both parties said follow-up engagements with SME clusters were planned before the end of the year.