Access to affordable finance remains one of the biggest obstacles facing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, prompting the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and NASD Plc to explore alternative funding options through the capital market.\n<\/p>\n
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At a stakeholders\u2019 forum held in Lagos and themed \u201cFinancing Growth: Propelling the Real Sector Through the Capital Market,\u201d entrepreneurs, regulators and financial experts examined how businesses can secure medium and long-term financing beyond traditional bank loans.\n<\/p>\n
Discussions at the forum highlighted that many MSMEs struggle to attract investment because they lack the structures investors expect. Participants stressed that businesses seeking funding must have a clear business model, a defined growth strategy, strong corporate governance, audited financial statements and transparent cash flow records.\n<\/p>\n
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LCCI President Leye Kupoluyi said that while inflation has shown signs of easing, borrowing costs remain extremely high, making it difficult for businesses in sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture to grow.\n<\/p>\n
He noted that many manufacturers, agro-processors and MSMEs are forced to operate in an environment where loan interest rates significantly reduce profitability before products even reach the market.\n<\/p>\n
According to him, the challenge is not the absence of capital in the economy but the lack of effective channels connecting available funds to productive businesses.\n<\/p>\n
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Kupoluyi pointed to the growing pool of investment capital within the country, noting that Pension Fund Administrators closed 2025 with assets approaching N20 trillion while the stock market recorded strong growth during the year. He said Nigeria already has significant financial resources that could support industrial development and business expansion if properly directed toward the real sector.<\/p>\n
He explained that the collaboration between LCCI and NASD is designed to help MSMEs explore funding opportunities outside conventional lending channels and take advantage of capital market instruments.\n<\/p>\n
Managing Director of NASD Plc, Eguarekhide Longe, said businesses require greater access to growth capital, while investors are also seeking more opportunities to deploy funds into productive ventures.\n<\/p>\n
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He explained that the forum was created to increase awareness of capital market opportunities and strengthen partnerships that can support sustainable business growth. According to him, the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market provides SMEs with various options for raising capital while improving their visibility and access to investors under a regulated framework.\n<\/p>\n
NASD\u2019s Head of Research and Strategy, Oludare Fajimolu, identified poor business structures as one of the main reasons many SMEs are unable to access capital market financing. He said stronger governance practices, improved transparency and better record-keeping would increase investor confidence and make businesses more attractive to potential financiers.<\/p>\n
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LCCI Director-General, Dr Chinyere Almona, described the real sector as a key driver of economic growth and emphasised the importance of patient capital in helping businesses scale operations. She said the initiative supports the chamber\u2019s broader objective of helping MSMEs gain access to long-term financing through the capital market.\n<\/p>\n
Representing the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Deputy Director Ojone Kabir encouraged entrepreneurs to take advantage of investment instruments such as equities, fixed-income securities and other capital market products to support innovation and expansion.\n<\/p>\n
During a panel discussion, stakeholders identified weak business structures and poor financial documentation as major barriers preventing SMEs from attracting investment.\n<\/p>\n
They noted that many businesses fail to maintain proper records, do not file audited annual returns, lack complete financial statements and operate without adequate compliance systems. These shortcomings, they said, often discourage investors from committing capital.<\/p>\n
Participants stressed that businesses hoping to secure investment must establish proper governance structures, maintain accurate financial records and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.\n<\/p>\n
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For many MSMEs seeking growth capital, the message from the forum was clear: access to funding increasingly depends not only on the availability of money but also on a company\u2019s readiness to meet investor expectations through transparency, accountability and sound business practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Access to affordable finance remains one of the biggest obstacles facing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":877690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,607,356702,59763,356703,117942,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-877689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-firstbank","tag-msmes","tag-smeconnect","tag-smes","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116775506999118504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}