Zoho, a global technology company, has partnered with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to expand access to affordable cloud technology for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across Nigeria.
Under the partnership, Zoho will provide wallet credits worth up to ₦20 billion to as many as 25,000 eligible MSMEs within SMEDAN’s network. The initiative combines SMEDAN’s support for the MSME sector with Zoho’s range of scalable cloud-based business applications.
The programme supports SMEDAN’s GROW Nigerian strategy, which focuses on business formalisation, access to finance and markets, productivity and digital adoption. It also complements the agency’s partnership with the Corporate Affairs Commission to facilitate the free registration of 250,000 businesses, helping more MSMEs enter the formal economy.
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“Our focus at SMEDAN is to ensure that small businesses are able to move from survival to growth and prosperity. That means helping entrepreneurs formalise, improve productivity, reach new markets and build businesses that can compete, said the Director general/CEO of SMEDAN, Charles Odii . Digital capability is now an important part of that journey, and this partnership with Zoho gives thousands of MSMEs within our ecosystem another practical pathway to strengthen how they operate and grow.”
“MSMEs are fundamental to Nigeria’s economic development, but technology can only deliver its full potential when businesses are able to access and effectively use it,” said Kehinde Ogundare , Country Head, Zoho Nigeria. “Through this partnership with SMEDAN, we are reducing the access barrier to adopting world-class business technology while providing businesses with the training, consultation and support they need to leverage cloud technology to streamline their operations, and catapult their growth. The partnership also reflects Zoho’s transnational localism strategy, which combines our global technology expertise with efforts to create self-sustaining local economic clusters. Through this approach, we aim to deepen our contribution to Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and support the development of a more digitallyenabled and resilient MSME sector”
Eligible MSMEs will be able to use Zoho Wallet Credits across more than 60 applications, including Zoho Workplace for business communication and collaboration, Bigin by Zoho CRM for customer and sales management, and Zoho Books for cloud-based accounting.
Beyond providing technology access, Zoho will offer participating businesses training sessions, workshops, one-on-one consultations, and technical support throughout the programme. Zoho and SMEDAN will also jointly manage outreach, monitor adoption, and assess the programme’s impact on participating businesses.
