SEC, SMEDAN to drive SMEs financing using Nigeria’s capital market 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said it is collaborating with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria to implement joint nationwide sensitization campaigns on “Financing SMEs through the Capital Market.”

Director General of the SEC, Dr. Emomotimi Agama who stated this during a meeting with SMEDAN in Abuja, said the agencies will also co-brand financial literacy content and SME investment-readiness toolkits.

Agama said the purpose of the meeting is to initiate a strategic collaboration between the SEC and the SMEDAN to support small business financing through access to the capital.

The engagement, he said aligns with the mandate of SEC’s newly established Office of Small Business Advocacy (OSBA)—created to serve as the primary interface between SEC and SMEs seeking to raise capital via securities issuance.

According to him, “SMEs represent over 90% of businesses in Nigeria and contribute significantly to employment and GDP. Despite their importance, most SMEs face significant barriers in accessing long-term, affordable financing.

“SEC, through the OSBA, is actively working to broaden access to market-based financing instruments for SMEs. SMEDAN is a statutory stakeholder in the MSME space with deep knowledge, nationwide networks, and relevant data infrastructure to support SME development and a collaborative framework between SEC and SMEDAN will foster synergies for policy innovation, capacity building, and SME investment readiness”.

The SEC DG disclosed that the Commission seeks to formalize a partnership with SMEDAN to implement coordinated interventions in Data Sharing by secure access to reliable and verified SME data to enable capital market outreach and segmentation and joint use of SME analytics for market readiness assessments and policy insights.

He said, “We also hope to design and deliver training programs for SMEs on capital market funding opportunities, governance, and compliance as well as co-host a National SME Capital Market Summit in Q3 or Q4 to showcase financing opportunities for SMEs”.

Dr. Agama emphasized the need to harness Nigeria’s entrepreneurial potentials through inclusive capital formation saying, “There will be no economy without the capital market.

“The capital market is the engine room of any economy, and the reason companies are not approaching the market is due to lack of funds, so we are here to change the narrative because we are aware that SMEs are the backbone of our economy. By working with SMEDAN we can create enabling frameworks that will help these businesses access long-term funding from the capital market”.

The SEC DG emphasized the need to harness Nigeria’s entrepreneurial potential through inclusive capital formation saying that there will be no economy without the capital market.

“The capital market is the engine room of any economy and the reasons companies are not approaching the market is due to lack of funds. So we are here to change the narrative because we are aware that SMEs are the backbone of our economy, and by working with SMEDAN, we can create enabling frameworks that will help these businesses access long-term funding from the capital market,” he said.

In addition, the Executive Commissioner, Legal and Enforcement, Ms. Frana Chukwuogor, stated that, by the new finance act and by the SEC’s regulation, owners of small businesses can raise funds from the capital market either through equity or debt to grow wealth adding that that capital market is capable of providing the financial push their businesses require.

In his remarks, the Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii, welcomed the collaboration, stating that the partnership would be a game-changer for Nigeria’s SME landscape.

“This alliance with the SEC aligns perfectly with our mandate to upscale and formalize the informal sector. By introducing SMEs to non-traditional funding avenues like bonds, equities, crowdfunding, and other market instruments, we can empower more businesses to scale sustainably”, he stated.

The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to establish a national working team that will streamline SMEs’ onboarding processes for capital market participation, develop targeted investor education programmes, and create innovative financing models tailored to the needs of small businesses.

This partnership marks a pivotal step towards inclusive economic development and is expected to catalyze job creation, industrial growth, and financial inclusion across the country.