The Lagos Small Business Summit 2016 held on the 15th of November at the Civic Center. The summit was one of the initiatives of SME100 Nigeria in commemoration of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In attendance were government, academia, public and private stakeholders as well as small businesses. The discussions were around fostering strategic partnerships as well as long lasting solutions to the problems SMEs face in the the course of doing businesses in Lagos and exploiting opportunities for growth and innovation.

The Summit kicked off with a welcome address by the Executive Director SME100 NIGERIA Mr. Charles Odii highlighting the operational and infrastructural problems small businesses face and citing the Lagos Small Business Summit as a convergence of stakeholders and policy makers with the aim to address the identified problems.

The first panel discussed innovative ways to explore the opportunities in the Nigerian Creative Industry with panelists such as Seyi Tinubu (CEO Loatsad Promomedia), Aibee Abidoye (GM Chocolate City Group), Beverly Naya (Nollywood Actress) and Kemi Lala-Akindoju (Nollywood Director and Actress). The panel was moderated by Brian Ojii, (CEO Of Inversion Ideas).

Dr. Ikechukwu Obiaya; Dean School of media and communication Pan African University delivered the keynote speech on the Nigerian Creative Industry.

Other panel discussions included Innovation in the Nigerian economy which was chaired by Tope Adekoya (CEO of Bilateral Communications) and featured panelist like Orode Okpu (CEO of EBAfrica), Sophia Ikeonu (Founder/CEO Of The 5k Shop), Kehinde Smith (CEO My Extensionz) amongst others.

The summit ended on a high note with a Question and Answer segment with the Government Stakeholders Panel led by Damilola Emmanuel (Executive Secretary LASWA) and moderated by Charles Odii (Executive Director of SME100 Nigeria).

The Lagos Small Business Summit 2016 was indeed an engaging and enlightening session which was also well attended by young entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. It also featured an exhibition were small business owners were able to showcase their goods and services, as well as a networking session which the participants took full advantage of to promote their various businesses and build strategic business relationships.

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