Only 561 Nigerian companies currently hold the globally recognised business identity required to participate effectively in international trade, highlighting the structural barriers preventing thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from accessing global markets.

This was revealed by the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Verto, Ola Oyetayo, in an interview with The Guardian.

Oyetayo said the low number was not due to a lack of ambition among Nigerian businesses but reflected an “access gap” created by compliance requirements that were not designed for African enterprises.

“That number is a stark wake-up call, but it isn’t a reflection of a lack of ambition; it’s a reflection of an access gap,” he said.

According to him, obtaining globally recognised business identities often requires SMEs to navigate fragmented and costly compliance processes that many smaller businesses struggle to meet.

“The compliance architecture built by traditional global finance was never designed with a Lagos-based merchant in mind. Nigerian SMEs are effectively locked out of the room before the conversation even begins,” Oyetayo said.

He noted that Verto, which processes more than $25 billion in yearly transaction volume across Africa, has seen enormous, untapped opportunities for Nigerian SMEs in cross-border trade.

Oyetayo said persistent payment delays and system failures continue to undermine business competitiveness, citing research showing that 84 per cent of businesses experience system glitches while 80 per cent face payment delays when trading across African markets.

He added that unreliable payment systems force SMEs to keep large amounts of working capital idle as a safeguard against transaction uncertainties instead of investing in expansion, employment or new products.

Oyetayo argued that financial institutions must redesign products to better serve SMEs rather than applying corporate banking models to smaller businesses.

He estimated that Nigeria loses billions of dollars annually because inefficient payment infrastructure discourages businesses from pursuing international transactions.

“It is not just the direct cost of high transaction fees or poor exchange rates; it is the opportunity cost of transactions that never happen,” he said.