By Abubakar Yunus
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Innovate Africa Corporation, Uloma Onyebuchi, has urged the Federal Government to prioritise reliable electricity and pro-business policies, saying uninterrupted power supply would unlock Nigeria’s private sector and accelerate economic growth.
Speaking in an interview with TheCable, Onyebuchi said Nigerians were naturally enterprising but were being held back by poor infrastructure, especially erratic electricity supply.
She argued that if businesses had access to 24-hour electricity, government would only need to play the role of an enabler while the private sector drives the economy.
According to her, countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have demonstrated that economies thrive when governments create policies that support businesses and encourage innovation.
She also called for reforms in the banking sector to make loans more accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises, describing SMEs as the engine of every successful economy.
Onyebuchi said financial institutions should be willing to fund even the smallest business ideas if they showed genuine potential.
She cited the example of entrepreneur Ijeoma Ntupe, popularly known as Maya, who started an akara business with between N10,000 and N20,000 before growing it into a company with three factories exporting products to the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe.
According to her, the transformation was made possible by continuous learning, strategic planning and the willingness to acquire business knowledge beyond the classroom.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with selling akara. The difference lies in how you structure the business,” she said.
She lamented what she described as Africa’s lack of dignity in labour, noting that many successful industrialists started with small-scale ventures such as selling tomatoes or corn before building thriving businesses.
The business leader insisted that government policies should focus on providing finance, reducing regulatory bottlenecks and delivering critical infrastructure, particularly electricity and water.
“Once businesses have access to finance, an enabling regulatory environment and the right infrastructure, the economy will grow rapidly,” she said.
On the growing influence of artificial intelligence, Onyebuchi said while AI was transforming industries, it could not replace human reasoning, emotions and judgement.
She maintained that sectors such as healthcare would always require human expertise despite advances in technology.
According to her, AI should be embraced as a tool to improve productivity rather than feared as a threat to jobs.
“I do not see AI as a threat to businesses. Rather, I see it as a tool that improves businesses. The goal is to combine human intelligence with AI to build stronger and more efficient businesses,” she added.
She noted that no government policy would have greater impact on business growth than sustained investment in infrastructure, insisting that reliable electricity remained the foundation for Nigeria’s economic transformation.
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