Former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has unveiled Nidacity, a new private-sector educational platform aimed at empowering Nigeria’s entrepreneurs—particularly young and female founders—with practical business education, mentorship, and timely intelligence to build resilient, thriving businesses.
The platform officially went live on Tuesday at www.nidacity.com. Adeosun, alongside a network of entrepreneurs and professionals, hopes the initiative will tackle the country’s staggering startup failure rate, which sees as many as 95 per cent of new businesses collapse within five years.
“The timing is urgent,” Adeosun said. “Nigeria has the world’s highest entrepreneurship rate, yet most startups do not survive beyond five years. With SMEs accounting for 85 per cent of employment in the country, the human cost of these failures is felt in every community.”
Rather than viewing the numbers as discouraging, Adeosun highlighted the potential for positive impact. “Nigeria’s entrepreneurs are already doing something extraordinary—they are creating the vast majority of jobs, often with very little support. If we can help more of these businesses survive and grow, the employment gains for Nigeria will be enormous. Nidacity is not a charity—it is an investment in the people already building this economy.”
A cornerstone of Nidacity is the “Many Roads” survey, described by Adeosun as a landmark digital initiative and living archive of Nigerian enterprise history. The survey invites Nigerians nationwide to share the origin stories of their family businesses, collectively mapping the cultural and generational roots of entrepreneurship in the country.
“At its centre is a deceptively simple question: how did the entrepreneurial spirit that defines so many Nigerian households come to be, and why does it endure?” Adeosun said. “The resulting dataset will provide evidence-based insights into the cultural and structural drivers behind Nigeria’s remarkable entrepreneurial history—insights that have, until now, remained largely undocumented.”
Findings from the survey will be published on Nidacity and shared with policymakers, educators, investors, and the public, forming the foundation for the platform’s broader mission: to strengthen business education, support enterprise development, and reduce startup failure rates across Nigeria.
Nidacity is structured around five interconnected pillars designed to address the digital, cultural, and economic realities facing Nigerian entrepreneurs today:
- Builders Podcast – In-depth interviews with founders at all stages of the entrepreneurial journey.
- Entrepreneur Profiles – A peer-to-peer learning library documenting experiences and lessons from diverse businesses.
- Resources – Proprietary tools to address operational challenges common to Nigerian SMEs.
- Education – Video lessons, webinars, and micro-courses offering practical, immediately applicable business instruction.
- News Analysis – Contextual reporting and insights to help entrepreneurs navigate Nigeria’s evolving business landscape.
Essentially, Nidacity offers a comprehensive suite of tools, training, and news to support entrepreneurs, delivered through digital, audio, and community formats, according to Adeosun’s media aide, Oluwadamilola Oguntimoju.
Adeosun is an economist, chartered accountant, and finance professional with over 35 years of experience in Nigeria and international markets. She served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance from November 2015 to September 2018, guiding the country through a recession and implementing fiscal reforms that included the creation of the Efficiency Unit and the launch of the Whistleblower Scheme, which recovered billions of naira.
Before her national role, she was Commissioner for Finance in Ogun State, where she increased the state’s internally generated revenue by more than 600 per cent.
With Nidacity, Adeosun aims to leverage her expertise and networks to address structural challenges in Nigerian entrepreneurship, helping founders survive, grow, and contribute to a more robust national economy.