As Nigeria faces a serious job creation disaster pushed by speedy inhabitants progress, a big casual sector and weak private-sector growth, Lagos State authorities has revealed that it’s concentrating on six precedence sectors to resolve the issue.
The Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Folashade Bada Ambrose-Medebem, disclosed this in the course of the state’s celebration of International MSME Day held in Lagos.
Ambrose-Medebem highlighted the Lagos State Industrial Policy 2025–2030, which identifies six precedence sectors for funding and enterprise improvement: agro-processing, gentle manufacturing, healthcare, the artistic economic system, digital commerce and the blue economic system.
She mentioned the coverage was meant to help industrial progress and create alternatives for MSMEs to take part in sectors with important potential for manufacturing, innovation and employment.
As a part of the state’s industrial improvement technique, Ambrose-Medebem disclosed that the 44-unit Imota Light Industrial Park was nearing completion, saying that the power is anticipated to offer manufacturing house for companies and help the growth of producing actions.
The commissioner additionally urged companies to look past the home market and benefit from alternatives below the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which she described as a market price roughly $3.4 trillion.
On export improvement, she mentioned the Lagos State Export Readiness Programme had educated 253 companies to enhance their preparedness for worldwide commerce. Twenty top-performing enterprises have been sponsored to attend the Intra-African Trade Fair in Algiers, the place they secured export relationships.
She, nevertheless, acknowledged that insufficient enterprise documentation, weak governance buildings, inflation and excessive vitality prices continued to constrain MSME progress and entry to business financing.
Ambrose-Medebem urged entrepreneurs to formalise their companies, spend money on tools and expertise, meet related certification necessities and enhance their monetary information to strengthen their prospects of accessing finance and competing in export markets.
According to her, the state can also be leveraging greater than 16,000 registered cooperative societies working by means of 24 Area Cooperative Offices to increase monetary companies to entrepreneurs who would possibly in any other case battle to fulfill typical banks’ lending necessities.
She described cooperatives as an necessary channel for delivering capital, coaching and market entry, noting that their community-based buildings may enhance accountability and assist companies construct the capability wanted to draw additional funding.
Also talking on the occasion, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Nana-Hauwa Adeeyo, introduced grants of as much as N1 million every for 5 excellent enterprises taking part within the Fashion, Leather and Creative Enterprise Spotlight.
Adeeyo mentioned the grants shaped a part of the federal government’s efforts to show enterprise potential into measurable financial affect by supporting innovation, enterprise growth and employment technology.
She additionally highlighted Lagos’ emergence because the top-performing state within the 2026 Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council’s ease-of-doing-business rankings, attributing the achievement to reforms in infrastructure, digital service supply, land administration and regulatory effectivity.
Adeeyo mentioned authorities insurance policies must be measured by their potential to take away limitations, scale back prices and develop alternatives for enterprise homeowners.
She inspired MSMEs to affix cooperatives, entry obtainable financing and coaching programmes, and supply suggestions to the ministry on challenges affecting their operations.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Babatunde Onigbanjo, mentioned the grants and awards introduced to excellent MSME operators have been meant to recognise entrepreneurial achievement and supply seed capital for enterprise improvement.
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