Nigeria has trained a great number of entrepreneurs. We have organised boot camps, empowerment programmes, seminars and graduation ceremonies. Yet many participants return home with more information and the same economic reality.
The problem is not that training is useless. The problem is that training is frequently treated as the final product.
For an entrepreneur, the final product should be trade.
A certificate is not a market
A fashion entrepreneur does not become sustainable because they attended a workshop. Sustainability begins when the business can produce something customers want, price it correctly, deliver it reliably and repeat the process.
Government enterprise programmes should therefore be designed backwards from commercial outcomes.
Instead of asking, “How many people did we train?” we should ask:
How many products were market-tested? How many businesses completed real transactions? How many customers were acquired? How many enterprises improved their margins? How many participants became ready for private finance?
The missing middle
There is usually a gap between training and funding. A participant may understand branding and bookkeeping but still have no evidence that the business can sell consistently. A bank may consider the business too risky. An investor may have no reliable data. Government may respond by giving a grant, but the grant can disappear without building a durable commercial system.
The missing middle is demand validation.
Before a business receives growth capital, it should be helped to test its product in the market. That means a proper storefront, product photography, payment integration, campaign tracking, customer service, fulfilment and a simple profit-and-loss view.
What a better programme could look like
I developed the National Creative Enterprise Market Infrastructure (NCEMI) idea around this gap. The concept is simple: connect skills, production, digital commerce, customer demand and finance readiness in one programme.
The first stage is diagnosis. Not every business has the same problem. One may need product development. Another may need quality control. Another may already have a strong product but no digital distribution.
The second stage is commercial preparation. Participants should leave with products that can actually be sold, proper pricing, a working storefront and clear operating responsibilities.
The third stage is controlled market testing. Small, measured campaigns can show which products convert, what a customer costs to acquire and whether the business can fulfil orders.
The final stage is graduation. The strongest businesses move into private financing, procurement opportunities, retail partnerships or export support.
Government should build the pipeline
Government has an important role, but it should not try to perform every role.
Government can reduce the cost of diagnosis, training, equipment, digitisation and market testing. It can establish standards and make business data more credible. It can create a pipeline that banks, asset managers and large companies can understand.
Private capital can then finance the enterprises that demonstrate demand and discipline.
This separation matters. Public money should build shared infrastructure and widen opportunity. Private money should take commercial risk based on evidence.
Measure what survives
Programme reporting should continue after the closing ceremony. Three, six and twelve months later, we should know which businesses are still trading, how many people they employ, whether their revenue improved and whether they can access customers without constant subsidy.
A government programme becomes infrastructure when the benefits continue after the programme team leaves.
From empowerment to economic organisation
The language of empowerment can sometimes reduce entrepreneurs to beneficiaries. Many are not asking to be rescued. They are asking for the conditions that allow them to compete.
They need power, production capacity, standards, customers, data, logistics and suitable capital.
The goal should not be to produce another class of trained but stranded entrepreneurs. The goal should be to organise talent into enterprises that can trade with Lagos, Nigeria, Africa and the world.