Nigerian businesses created a total of 14,269 jobs in 2025, even though small enterprises recorded a net decline in employment over the past year, the FATE Foundation has said.
The organisation disclosed this in its 2025 State of Entrepreneurship Report, released on Wednesday in Lagos. The report surveyed 10,882 businesses across the 36 states and the FCT, assessing enterprise growth, sectoral resilience, and the impact of macroeconomic reforms on small businesses.
Ms. Adenike Adeyemi, Executive Director of FATE Foundation, said Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) continued to operate in a high-cost environment shaped by monetary tightening, foreign exchange unification, subsidy removal, and recent tax reforms. She described the 2025 edition of the report as arriving at “a crucial junction for the nation”.
According to her, “The 2025 State of Entrepreneurship Index, calculated at 0.47 out of 1.0, reflects the first marginal increase recorded since 2022.” She added that “91 per cent of entrepreneurs maintain confidence in their business prospects, with over half rating the environment as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.”
The survey showed that entrepreneurs continued to hire despite difficult operating conditions. Of the 14,269 jobs created, 9,083 were full-time and 5,186 were part-time. However, businesses also reported 16,571 job losses, resulting in a net reduction of about 2,300 jobs.
FATE Foundation described the trend as evidence of a sector that “remains resilient but fragile”, noting that many of the new hires were concentrated among very small firms employing between one and three workers.
“This pattern shows a sector marked by resilience but also fragility,” the report stated. “While entrepreneurs continue to generate employment despite high operating costs, weak demand, and constrained access to finance, many businesses are also losing workers.”
One of the major highlights of the report was the performance of female-led enterprises. Although only 26.3 per cent of female entrepreneurs accessed institutional finance, 69.2 per cent of women-led firms reported business growth—outperforming male-led firms, which recorded 65.8 per cent.
“Female entrepreneurs continued to dominate the nano and micro segments, where entry barriers are lower, even as financing and market-access challenges persist,” the report noted.
It added that Jigawa, Kwara, and Adamawa recorded strong female business birth rates, driven by access to microcredit, digital tools, and empowerment programmes.
At the state level, Kogi (0.65), Kwara (0.63), and Bauchi (0.60) ranked as the top-performing states on the Entrepreneurship Index, with Lagos, Jigawa, and Taraba also posting strong results. In contrast, Gombe (0.24), Imo (0.31), and Kaduna (0.32) ranked lowest due to weak infrastructure, poor access to finance, and limited support systems.
Entrepreneurs identified access to affordable credit as their most pressing challenge for the fourth consecutive year, followed by policy instability, limited markets, and weak business-support structures.
Ms. Adeyemi said the “most pressing challenges are now institutional and market-related”, stressing the need for regulatory coherence and stronger capacity-building efforts to support small businesses.
