Speaking at the LCCI’s 2025 Members’ Day event in Lagos on Friday, Ladi Smith, chairman of the chamber’s Research & Advocacy Committee, explained that the hub was designed to serve as a launchpad for emerging ventures while helping build a future pipeline of chamber members.
“The Innovation Hub we are opening on Monday is the best place you can bring any entrepreneur,” Smith said. “You don’t even need to be a member of the chamber to try your hand at whatever it is.”
He told Sunday PUNCH that the facility would offer co-working spaces, mentoring opportunities, and programmes to help tech ventures access new markets. Graduates of the initiative, he added, would likely transition into the chamber’s membership, strengthening ties between Lagos’s dynamic startup sector and more established businesses.
Smith also highlighted the role of the annual Members’ Day as a strategic networking event, describing it as a platform that brings blue-chip companies and startups “into the same room,” fostering mentorship opportunities and enabling deals, particularly in the fast-growing fintech industry.
The event also featured a fireside chat with Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake, who urged local entrepreneurs to make full use of the state’s expanding digital infrastructure and cybersecurity support programmes.
“Through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, we have trained over 35,000 young people in digital skills,” Alake said. He noted that the state had expanded metro-fibre connectivity into underserved areas to reduce risk for telecom investors and improve access.
Alake also warned SMEs to prioritise basic cyber-defence measures. “You must think safety first. Engage white-hat hackers to test your network before criminals do,” he advised.
Representing the Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Ikechukwu Okoro, Director of Information and Communication Technology at the ministry, outlined the government’s commitment to green and sustainable investment. He pointed to the ministry’s success in securing €7.9 billion in green-hydrogen investment under its Project Green initiative, along with a goal of achieving 30 per cent local value addition on raw-material exports.
“Innovation and resilience are survival tools,” Okoro told participants. “Government alone cannot execute transformation at scale; we need private-sector collaboration.”
In his opening address, LCCI President Gabriel Idahosa—represented at the event by Deputy President Leye Kupoluyi—pledged the chamber’s ongoing advocacy for policies that reduce energy costs and unlock financing for innovative firms.
“Nigeria’s private sector shows remarkable resilience,” Kupoluyi said, citing PwC’s 2024 MSME survey that found 58 per cent of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises had adopted some form of innovation—from digitising payments to re-engineering supply chains.
By launching the Innovation Hub, the LCCI hopes to deepen that culture of innovation, equipping entrepreneurs with the tools, networks, and support they need to grow sustainable businesses in Nigeria’s evolving economy.