The Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, has urged entrepreneurs and key stakeholders to leverage emerging institutional and financing frameworks under the Inspire–Create–Start–Scale (ICSS) programme to accelerate business growth and deepen economic impact in Nigeria.

Odii gave the charge at the launch of the Inspire–Create–Start–Scale (ICSS4ALL) programme, an entrepreneurship development initiative designed to support MSMEs in building capacity from ideation through growth to market access. The programme was developed by German Agency for International Cooperation and is implemented in collaboration with SMEDAN and Kaduna Business School through GOPA Consultancy.

He extended the call to prospective entrepreneurs, noting that the ICSSLearn platform, partner organisations and the ICSS Institute now provide a nationwide pathway for structured enterprise development.

He also urged government institutions at federal, state and local levels to embed ICSS into their MSME programmes, while calling on financial institutions to align lending products with the improved risk profile of certified entrepreneurs.

“To our ICSS alumni, what you have earned is real and recognised. The GROW Fund and the ICSSLearn platform exist to build on the foundation you have laid. Stay connected to this ecosystem, access the financing you now qualify for, and scale your businesses. Your progress is the programme’s most powerful evidence.”

“ICSS graduates come to you structured, documented and prepared. The curriculum has changed their risk profile. We urge you to develop products and financing windows that reflect that change,” he said.

The SMEDAN boss stressed that although more than 14,000 entrepreneurs have already been trained, the programme remains in its early stages, with ambitions to scale nationally through institutionalisation, digital learning and expanded financing.

Beyond policy advocacy, new data presented at the event highlights the scale of early impact. The ICSS framework has reached over 42,250 individuals across six states, while 17,967 jobs have been created — with women accounting for 60 per cent, underscoring its contribution to inclusive economic participation.

The programme has also strengthened ecosystem capacity, with more than 380 trainers, facilitators and coaches, alongside about 100 master trainers, deployed through over 40 partner organisations, creating a distributed structure for entrepreneurship support.

These figures come against the backdrop of Nigeria’s MSME landscape, where small businesses account for about 97 per cent of enterprises, nearly 90 per cent of employment and close to half of GDP, yet remain constrained by limited access to finance, fragmented training systems and weak market linkages.

Earlier, Country Director of GIZ Nigeria, Markus Wagner, said the ICSS framework was designed to address these structural gaps by creating a standardised pathway from business ideation to scale.

According to him, while MSMEs are central to innovation and job creation, many entrepreneurs still lack access to structured support systems, limiting their ability to grow sustainably.

Wagner noted that the programme’s impact is reflected not only in participation numbers but also in the development of a sustainable network of trainers and institutions capable of delivering entrepreneurship support nationwide.

He added that the introduction of the ICSSLearn digital platform is expected to expand access further, particularly among young Nigerians increasingly relying on digital tools for business development.

Industry stakeholders at the event observed that the absence of standardisation in entrepreneurship training has historically weakened the bankability of MSMEs, as financial institutions lacked reliable benchmarks to assess creditworthiness.

They argued that integrating training, certification and financing through initiatives such as the ICSS Institute and the GROW Fund could help bridge this gap by producing entrepreneurs better prepared for formal financial systems.

The ICSS programme, developed by the German Agency for International Cooperation in collaboration with SMEDAN and partners including Kaduna Business School, is being positioned as a national standard for entrepreneurship development.

The ICSS4ALL convening, slated for April 21 and 22 in Abuja, brought together government agencies, development partners, financial institutions and private sector actors to review progress and drive adoption of the framework.

With policymakers moving to embed ICSS into the National MSME Policy, analysts say the initiative’s success will depend on sustained institutional commitment, policy alignment and the willingness of financial institutions to translate improved enterprise capacity into increased lending.

“For Nigeria, where MSMEs underpin livelihoods and economic resilience, the scale and effectiveness of such reforms could prove decisive in converting entrepreneurial activity into broad-based growth,” the event stressed.