Presidency has disclosed that it received over 60,000 applications from small business entrepreneurs for the 2025 National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Awards, which opened on March 7, 2025.

Recall that at the opening of entries, the Presidency had announced that the overall winner of the awards would go home with a car, house, shop and cash prize, all valued at N220 million.

The Presidency revealed yesterday that agriculture-based enterprises were leading the pack, closely followed by enterprises in the information and digital technology sector, the creative industry, leather works, furniture and woodwork, manufacturing and fashion, beauty and cosmetics, and persons living with a disability.

Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation & MSME, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, noted that the applications received for this year’s competition had, so far, come from businesses operating in Lagos, Aba, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Birnin Kebbi, Damaturu, Abakaliki, among other locations across the country.

Adekunle-Johnson said: “The huge interest shown by small enterprises across the country reflects the integrity and significance of the awards in galvanising support and growth in the MSME space in Nigeria.”