GIZ PARTNER PAGE
Fifteen years building the conditions Nigerian MSMEs grow in.
Through SEDIN, the Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment programme commissioned by BMZ and co-financed by the European Union, GIZ has worked with federal, state and local partners since 2011 on the finance, markets and business environment small businesses depend on. And since 2024 it has stood with SMEDAN behind the National MSME Conference.
- 140,000
- people trained in economic and financial literacy, 45% women
- 36,000+
- MSMEs with access to improved business services
- 12,770
- people into work or additional employment
- 10 states
- Abia, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau
- €57.3M
- third-phase budget, including €9M EU co-financing
IMPACT ON THE MSME SPACE
From a first phase in five states to 60 MSME clusters nationwide.
- 2011PHASE I · 2011–2014
SEDIN begins
Financial system development, business-enabling-environment reform, trade facilitation and agricultural and non-agricultural value chains. Field work concentrated in Edo, Lagos, Niger, Ogun and Plateau.
- 2014PHASE II · 2014–2017
Second phase deepens the four units
The programme continues across the same four areas of work, building the public-private dialogue platforms that later become a signature of the approach.
- 2017PHASE III · 2017–2023
A €57.32 million third phase
Executing partner: the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. Work expands into economic education and entrepreneurship, local economic development, value chains, policy reform, migration and reintegration, and access to finance.
- 2018EU CO-FINANCING
The European Union joins
From October 2018, €9 million of EU co-financing extends SEDIN to Oyo, Abia, Kano, Kaduna and Kebbi in selected value chains. Ten states in all.
- 2022RESULTS TO MARCH 2022
What the numbers say
140,000 people trained in economic and financial literacy (45% women). Over 36,000 MSMEs with improved business services. 12,770 people into work. Tax harmonisation laws enacted in Niger, Ogun and Plateau, where Plateau cut its levies from 64 to 21. 30,000 students in 330 schools through SEA-Hub clubs.
- 2023PHASE IV · 2023–2026
SEDIN-IV: clusters, markets, a just transition
Four fields: access to markets, business-enabling environment and infrastructure, the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and a just transition. 480,000 MSMEs assessed across 60 identified clusters in Ogun, Edo, Plateau, Niger, Lagos and the FCT; about 48,000 targeted for direct support.
- 2024WITH SMEDAN
Supporting the National MSME Conference, Abuja
GIZ backs SMEDAN's 2024 National MSME Conference at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, 3–5 October. The start of a standing partnership on the conference.
- 2025GROW NIGERIAN 2025
Behind the first GROW Nigerian, Lagos
The German Government, the European Union and the Swiss Government support the 2025 conference through GIZ. Federal Palace, Lagos, 16–18 November, under the theme “Building a Future of Innovation, Resilience and Prosperity”.
- 2026GROW NIGERIAN 2026
Third year running with SMEDAN
In partnership with the EU, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 8–10 November at the Ecobank Pan African Centre, Lagos.
AT GROW NIGERIAN 2026
In partnership, on every track.
GIZ's partnership sits behind the whole conference for the third year running, and the five tracks map directly onto SEDIN's fields of work.
- Finance and Capital Access · access to finance for MSMEs and the low-income population
- Markets and Export Readiness · value chains and market linkages
- Policy and Business Environment · reform at federal, state and local level
- Digital Adoption and Technology · e-commerce and ICT value chains
- Workforce Solutions · entrepreneurship and employment