A small or medium enterprise (SME) founder sees the next order, the new equipment or the second outlet that could transform the business. The bank sees a different question: can this business turn the money it borrows into enough reliable cash flow to repay it?
Both may be right. The entrepreneur may have found a genuine opportunity. The lender may still be unable to verify that the business has the financial records, cost controls, management systems and repayment capacity to pursue it safely.
That is the financing paradox confronting many Nigerian small businesses. They need capital to grow, but the weaknesses that constrain their growth can also make them difficult to finance.
The problem, therefore, is not always finding a bank willing to lend. It is building a business that can demonstrate what it will do with the money, how the investment will generate returns and where repayment will come from.
This is the gap ProvidusUnity Bank is seeking to address through its SME Development Programme, delivered in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University. Its premise is that entrepreneurs need more than access to capital. They need the financial discipline, operational systems and business capabilities to use it productively.
The financing problem beneath the financing gap
The International Finance Corporation estimated unmet credit demand among Nigerian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises at approximately $32.2 billion, equivalent to about ₦13 trillion. The estimate was based on research involving almost 1,000 MSMEs in 2021 and 2022. It is not a measure of the current financing gap, but it illustrates the scale of the structural challenge.
The problem is not simply that businesses need money and banks have not supplied enough of it. Lenders must assess whether borrowers can repay. Many small businesses operate with incomplete financial records, limited formal governance, weak business planning or insufficient information to demonstrate how additional capital will generate returns.
PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) 2024 micro small and medium enterprise (MSME) survey, drawing on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)/Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) 2021 national survey, reported that micro, small and medium-sized businesses accounted for 96.9 per cent of Nigerian businesses, contributed 46.32 per cent of GDP and represented 87.9 per cent of employment. It also reported that 96.2 per cent of MSMEs operated as sole proprietorships. These figures describe the 2021 survey baseline, rather than a fresh census of businesses in 2024.
The scale of the sector makes the issue consequential. But the prevalence of owner-managed businesses also raises practical questions about how financial decisions are made, how business and personal finances are separated, and whether a company can continue operating effectively beyond the founder’s daily involvement.
For an entrepreneur, becoming finance-ready begins with confronting these questions before applying for a loan.
What changes when a business becomes finance-ready?
ProvidusUnity Bank launched its SME Development Programme in 2020. Over six editions, the initiative has evolved from helping entrepreneurs navigate difficult operating conditions towards strengthening the systems and capabilities required for growth.
In October 2026, the bank announced the graduation of more than 100 entrepreneurs from its sixth cohort. The three-month programme, organised with the Enterprise Development Centre, brought together business owners from Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Participants received training intended to strengthen their ability to manage and expand their enterprises.
The curriculum addresses areas that influence both business performance and financing decisions: strategy, financial management, operational efficiency, leadership, sustainability, risk management, profitability and growth planning.
These subjects may sound familiar. Their value lies in whether an entrepreneur can translate them into better decisions.
Consider a manufacturer seeking funding to increase production. A larger machine may increase output, but only if the business has sufficient demand, reliable raw-material supplies, trained workers and the cash flow to cover operating costs. The owner must also understand the cost of producing each unit, the margin earned on sales and the time it takes customers to pay.
Without that information, borrowing to expand can magnify existing weaknesses
A finance-ready business is better positioned to show why it needs capital, what the money will finance, how the investment will improve performance and how the resulting cash flow will support repayment.
That does not guarantee a loan. Credit decisions remain subject to a lender’s assessment and applicable terms. It does, however, give the entrepreneur a stronger basis on which to engage a potential financier.
Lessons from businesses already on the journey
The programme’s participants illustrate the variety of enterprises confronting this transition.
Uju Okeke, founder of Ava Collections, joined the programme after more than a decade of building her business. Her experience, reported by BusinessDay, centred on consolidating what she had established and developing the structures needed to support its next stage of growth.
Olatunji Alaaki, founder of Jeun, identified corporate governance, marketing, branding and business structure among the areas in which the programme broadened his perspective. Tunji Onakoya, founder and chief executive of AutoClinic NG and a participant in the sixth cohort, described the intervention as addressing a genuine need within Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
These accounts are useful illustrations of the programme’s intended value. They are participant experiences, however, not independent evidence that the programme has caused a particular increase in revenue, profitability, lending or employment.
The more important question is what entrepreneurs can take back to their businesses and implement.
For one founder, that may mean producing regular management accounts rather than relying on a bank balance to judge performance. For another, it may mean documenting operating procedures so that the business is less dependent on the owner. For a third, it may mean identifying which product lines generate the strongest margins before seeking money to expand.
Finance-readiness is not a presentation prepared for a banker. It is the operating discipline behind the presentation.
From learning to access to capital
ProvidusUnity Bank’s SME offering extends beyond training. Its published proposition includes one-on-one business advisory, investment-readiness support, networking, market access and access to funding opportunities. The bank also advertises financing solutions for working capital and expansion, as well as equity-funding connections for suitable businesses.
Active participants in its SME programme are eligible for access to finance at preferential rates, according to the bank’s published SME banking information. The applicable terms and eligibility conditions should be confirmed directly with the bank.
The distinction between debt and equity also matters. A business requiring short-term working capital to fulfil confirmed orders has a different financing need from one investing in equipment that will generate returns over several years. An equity investment, meanwhile, introduces a different relationship between the entrepreneur and the provider of capital.
Finance-readiness therefore includes matching the financing structure to the purpose and expected returns of the investment.
This is particularly relevant to Nigerian SMEs that experience a mismatch between the duration of their funding and the time required to earn returns. At the second Go Local Summit in September 2026, Ernest Elue, ProvidusUnity Bank’s head of strategy, highlighted the problem of businesses requiring longer-term funding while relying on shorter-term finance. He also stressed the importance of governance, credible cash-flow evidence and reliable financial records.
The implication is straightforward: capital can support growth, but the financing arrangement must fit the business model.
Is your business ready for its next stage?
For founders considering the next phase of growth, the first step is an honest assessment of the business.
Can you explain, using reliable records, how much revenue the business generates and how much profit it retains? Do you know your operating costs, margins, outstanding receivables and cash-flow requirements? Can you demonstrate consistent demand? Are contracts, registrations and ownership records in order? Can the business operate through documented systems rather than depending entirely on the founder?
Most importantly, can you explain precisely what additional capital would achieve, how the investment would improve the business and where the money to repay debt would come from?
These are not merely questions to prepare for a loan application. They are questions that help determine whether expansion is commercially sensible.
ProvidusUnity Bank’s SME Development Programme is designed to help entrepreneurs strengthen these capabilities while building relationships, gaining advisory support and exploring financing opportunities. Business owners interested in the programme can consult the bank’s official SME banking page (https://www.providusbank.com/sme-banking) for information on its offerings and application process.
For Nigeria, the broader opportunity extends beyond helping individual companies obtain finance. It is to build more enterprises capable of using capital productively, employing people, supplying larger businesses and moving from founder-led activity towards organised, scalable operations.
The next stage of growth may require a loan. But before the loan comes the work of building a business that understands its numbers, controls its costs and knows what it will do with the money.
Capital can accelerate a business. Finance-readiness helps determine whether that acceleration creates lasting value.
Stephen Onyekwelu is BusinessDay’s Strategy & Enterprise Delivery Executive, specialising in turning editorial vision into enterprise outcomes. A former Online News Editor and lead of the Go Local initiative (print, podcast & BDTV in partnership with Providus Bank), he blends investigative storytelling with platform strategy, conference design, and cross-functional delivery.
