SMEDAN Offers 52 Young Entrepreneurs N250,000 Lifeline

For a young entrepreneur struggling to restock a small shop, buy equipment or turn a promising idea into a real business, N250,000 can mean more than just money. It can mean another chance to keep going.

That is the opportunity the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) is putting on the table for 52 young entrepreneurs, who are expected to receive N250,000 each under its new Building Resilient Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs (BRYNE) Project.

The initiative is designed to go beyond handing out cash. SMEDAN says it wants to help young Nigerians develop the skills, networks and business support needed to build enterprises that can survive, grow and create jobs.

The agency’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Charles Odii, has repeatedly stressed that the challenge facing Nigerian startups is not simply access to money. In July, SMEDAN said the country also needed more businesses that are properly prepared to attract and effectively use available investment.

Under BRYNE, support will be delivered through four channels — the SMEDAN Incubation Programme, Campus Enterprise Engagement Platform, BRYNE Digital Connect and a weekly startup hackathon.

The incubation programme is expected to support about 600 young entrepreneurs each year, particularly in areas including fashion, agriculture and woodwork, while the campus programme will take entrepreneurship training and business advisory services to tertiary institutions.

The digital arm is expected to give young entrepreneurs access to business knowledge, communities and markets, while the weekly hackathon will provide a competitive platform for startups to pitch their ideas. About 5,000 young entrepreneurs are expected to participate, with 52 eventually emerging as recipients of the N250,000 seed funding.

For the beneficiaries, the grant may not be enough to transform a small enterprise overnight. But it could pay for a critical piece of equipment, replenish stock, improve production or provide the working capital needed to make the next move.

SMEDAN already operates several programmes aimed at helping entrepreneurs overcome similar barriers. Its official programmes include access-to-finance initiatives, entrepreneurship training and market-linkage support, while its National Business Skills Development Initiative specifically targets unemployed young people and existing nano businesses.

The agency has also pursued measures to reduce some of the costs of doing business. In 2025, SMEDAN partnered with the Corporate Affairs Commission to provide free business registration for 250,000 MSMEs, seeking to help small businesses formalise and gain better access to opportunities.

The BRYNE project therefore arrives at a time when many young Nigerians are looking beyond traditional employment and trying to create their own livelihoods.

For the 52 eventual winners, the real test will begin after the money arrives — whether the N250,000 becomes another short-lived intervention or the first building block of businesses capable of standing on their own.

And for a young entrepreneur already fighting to keep a dream alive, sometimes the first building block is all that is needed to start again.