MoniePoint partner trade ministry, CAC to boost informal businesses

Mariam Abeeb

MoniePoint Inc. said it is collaborating with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to make it easier for informal businesses to formalise their dealings.
Mr Tosin Eniolorunda, the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder, Moniepoint Incorporated, said this in the company’s Informal Economy Report, 2025, unveiled in Abuja.
Eniolorunda said the company had helped four times more businesses become formalised thereby gaining access to a better range of tools and services that could help them grow.
He said the report was geared towards fostering collaboration across all sectors to create sustainable solutions for the informal economy that would positively impact the country’s economy.
”We have spent years building the kind of products and solutions that these informal businesses could rely on.
”Now, we had also shed light on them for everyone to understand their unique challenges. Beyond Moniepoint, everyone could get involved in understanding them and solving their problems.
”At Moniepoint, we strongly believe in the importance of the informal economy and its role in Nigeria’s economy.
”Beyond this, however, we also realise that there is a lot of access and support that becomes available to them when they become formalised,” he said.
He said the businesses in the informal economy had potential for growth when adequately supported.
According to him, this is why we have built systems and services that take their unique situations into account, and work with that context to match their needs.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, said the informal economy was central to Nigeria’s story of resilience and enterprise.
Oduwole said million of citizens sustain livelihoods and drove commerce in ways that often remained unseen.
According to her, this report provides an important window into their realities—the opportunities they create, the challenges they navigate, and the scale of their contribution to national development.
”By documenting their experiences with data and context, it deepens our understanding of the sector and offers a stronger foundation for inclusive policymaking,” she said.
Mr Charles Odii, the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said the informal sector remained the backbone of the economy, vibrant and deeply embedded in the fabric of daily life.