First off, Happy New Year, dearest, gentle reader.

Here’s to more joy, a bounty of achievements, and surplus enjoyment in the new year.

Now that we can dispense with the formalities, let’s talk business!

There are some endeavours that if you go into them without serious backing from God, his angels, and your ancestors, you can run mad doing them.

No, we are not talking about situationships - though they are in the running too.

Today, we convene to discuss the challenges and opportunities of conducting business in Nigeria, with a particular focus on the experiences of women entrepreneurs.

2024 was hard for most Nigerians, and that’s putting it lightly (this is why we came up with our end-of-year enjoyment guide and our affordable gift manual if you didn’t see them).

You have tried, dear. Your mummy didn’t birth you to suffer.

But, to our regular readers, you know we are thorough in our assessments, and we’ve found it’s not just the average Nigerian – the consumer – that went through hell, high water, and grid collapses last year.

Entrepreneurs did too.

This makes sense because if you close your eyes and try to relax, you might hear your mother shouting at you to “learn handwork” because corporate jobs aren’t guaranteed.

Many Nigerians took that to heart.

According to The State of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria 2024 report, young Nigerians are starting businesses more than ever. In 2024, almost half of all new businesses in the country were started by young people.

And we can’t forget one of the abido shakers of the young Nigerian economy.

Our businesswomen.

Over the past three years (2021-2024), the share of female-led businesses has consistently increased, rising from 43% to 48%. The Piggyvest Savings Report 2024 also indicates a greater likelihood of business ownership among women (27%) than men (23%).

But.

Nigeria’s challenging business climate has affected women-led enterprises. The 2024 State of Entrepreneurship (SoE) Survey revealed a significant decline in growth among these businesses, with only 63.1% reporting growth in the past year.

This marks a pretty sizeable decrease from 73.6% in 2023 and 76.9% in 2022, and it’s a bummer.

The report also tells us that while people in their 30s were the most common new business owners in Nigeria for a while, things were different in 2024.

Young people aged 15-29 became the most active group of entrepreneurs, making up 44.4% of new businesses.

Lazy Nigerian youths where?

Most of these businesses are small-scale operations with one or two employees and assets worth less than ₦3 million (excluding real estate), so, unsurprisingly, younger people are more likely to own them. While many people think informal businesses don’t pay taxes, Business Insider Africa reports that 89% do.

Unfortunately, women have historically gotten the shorter end of the stick when it comes to work, business and leadership. According to this 2020 report by PWC, Nigerian women account for only 11% of Ministers in the Presidential cabinet, while South African women represent 50% of their president’s cabinet, and right now in Nigeria, out of the 45 ministers currently in office, only seven of them are women, If you do the math, that’s a tiny bit over 15%.

Mind you, women make up just over half of Nigeria’s population (104.5 million women to 101.7 million men).

Yikes.

This is why they deserve a spot in our hearts, and yours.

So, we spoke with three Nigerian businesswomen who, like most of us, entered 2024 unaware that there were witchcraft, principalities, and powers afoot, but still made it through and are hopeful for the new year.

From why they got into business, how the past year compared to their expectations, things they had to do to stay afloat, valuable lessons for other people and entrepreneurs, and we even got a bit deep towards the end, talking about mental health and existential fears.

It can’t be said that we aren’t multifaceted.

C’mon.

Meet our Business Baddies

Alice - Alice started Zobo World in her mother’s kitchen six years ago, selling a bottle for ₦100. Now she has expanded her business, gotten full-time employees, her own store, and some very expensive blenders. But even with experience and love for her craft, 2024 showed her pepper. From her transformer blowing up (it didn’t get fixed for over 6 months), to fruit becoming almost as expensive as gold, and people having less and less money to pay for her products, how did she do it? Listen for the juicy (get it?) deets.

Eddie - Some people are just bag-oriented, straight out of the box, like Edna, owner of Eddiespicy. This Port Harcourt babe has been in one business or the other since the first year of her engineering degree. After dabbling in kilishi and jewellery for a bit, she’s finally graduated and settled – temporarily – on baked goods and food. She opened up about how 2024 went for her, and how she’s had to strategically adapt to how the country is going while remaining afloat and making a profit. You could almost taste the jollof as she spoke. Chef’s kiss.

Tunmise – Tunmise, the brains behind Gthb Books, openly admitted she didn’t much care for business or people, which may sound crazy because after NYSC she started an online bookstore that has slowly morphed into a community of book lovers. She spilt about how when 2024 started to happen, she had to pivot to what she calls her “cash cows” and make some changes to how she operated her business that ultimately made 2024 one of her most profitable to date. As the generous queen she is, she didn’t skimp on the details, and her advice? Definitely one for the books.

Chit chat…

See, as a business owner, if you burst into tears at the end of 2024 Thanksgiving, we understand.

Entrepreneurship is empowering and the prospect of being self-made is very attractive, but, the act of actually making yourself?

It is well.

If you’re as passionate as we are about making space for women in the hellish landscape that is Nigerian business, you need to check out this list of women-led businesses we compiled for you to support.

If you’re an entrepreneur, we hope Alice, Tunmise, and Eddie have comforted, inspired and educated you enough to keep going and be strategic about your movements, both as a person and a business owner.

But of course, our mission doesn’t stop there.

We have an index for you, silly.

We’ve put together a toolkit of resources to help make 2025 a successful year for your business. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur like Alice or just a serial business queen like Edna, these tools will give you a solid foundation to navigate the dynamic (read: crazy) Nigerian business landscape.

(If you like, don’t accept. Na you sabi.)

The Business Baddies Index

It’s 2025, the year is spread in front of you, what are you doing first? do you want to start a business or do you already own one? Do you have any new year resolutions this year or is it as the lord leads?

As usual, we want to know what you’re thinking, so let us know in the comments below!