Why many Nigerian SMEs appear busy but fail to scale – Damilola Adeniji

Damilola Adeniji, Marketing Manager at Proximaforte Ltd, has warned that many Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are trapped in a cycle of constant activity without meaningful growth, despite spending long hours managing sales, customers, and operations.

Adeniji made the assertion on Tuesday during the launch of Oloja by Payxy in Lekki, Lagos, where he addressed an audience comprising business owners, fintech stakeholders, startup founders, and policy advocates.

According to Adeniji, millions of Nigerian entrepreneurs remain caught in what he described as an “illusion of productivity,” where daily business activities create the appearance of progress without delivering measurable growth.

“The Nigerian SME owner is one of the hardest-working people on this continent,” Adeniji said. “But hard work and business growth are not the same thing. We have millions of entrepreneurs who are genuinely busy from 6 a.m. to midnight, and yet, at the end of the year, nothing has changed. The business has not grown. The owner is exhausted. And they cannot even tell you why because they have no records.”

SMEs Face Structural Challenges, Not a Lack of Effort

Adeniji argued that the biggest challenge facing many SMEs is not a lack of determination or hustle but the absence of proper systems, tools, and digital infrastructure needed for sustainable growth.

According to him, many business owners spend their days responding to customer inquiries on WhatsApp, posting products on social media, tracking inventory manually, and following up on unpaid invoices, leaving little room for strategic planning.

“Busyness has become a substitute for strategy in this market,” Adeniji said. “You are answering DMs, sending account numbers on WhatsApp, manually counting stock, and chasing unpaid invoices all at the same time. That is not a business. That is organised chaos.”

His comments resonated with many attendees, who acknowledged facing similar challenges in their businesses.

Adeniji Identifies Three Major Growth Traps

During his presentation, Adeniji outlined what he described as the “Three Invisible Traps” preventing many Nigerian SMEs from scaling successfully.

The first, which he called the Visibility Trap, affects businesses that operate across multiple platforms without establishing a central digital presence.

According to Adeniji, many entrepreneurs sell simultaneously through Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Jiji, and word-of-mouth referrals but lack a single professional storefront where customers can easily find products and services.

“You are everywhere and nowhere at the same time,” he said. “A customer who heard about you last week cannot find you today or explore your products seamlessly.”

The second challenge, which he described as the Records Trap, relates to poor inventory management and inadequate financial record-keeping.

Adeniji noted that many SMEs struggle to provide accurate sales records, inventory reports, or financial statements when required by tax authorities, financial institutions, or potential investors.

“When tax season comes, when a bank asks for statements, when an investor wants to see your numbers, most owners pull out a notebook, a WhatsApp chat, or nothing at all,” he said. “How do you scale a business you cannot measure?”

The third obstacle, according to Adeniji, is the Isolation Trap, where small businesses operate independently without access to shared infrastructure and collective market opportunities.

“We have millions of individual sellers, each shouting into the void on their own,” he said. “Meanwhile, large retailers and supermarkets benefit from collective infrastructure, shared logistics, and consolidated customer traffic. Small businesses have been locked out of that model until now.”

Nigerian SMEs Risk Being Left Behind

Adeniji also warned that the rapid growth of Nigeria’s digital economy is creating a new reality that many SMEs cannot afford to ignore.

According to him, consumer behaviour has shifted significantly towards online commerce, making digital visibility a critical requirement for business survival and growth.

“The Nigerian consumer has moved,” Adeniji said. “They are shopping online, comparing prices, reading reviews, and paying with their phones. If your business does not exist in that space, properly, professionally, and searchably, you are invisible to a growing segment of the market.”

To support his position, Adeniji referenced data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which showed that electronic payment transactions reached N284.99 trillion in the first quarter of 2025, representing a 17.7 per cent increase year-on-year.

“This is happening right now,” he said. “The question is whether Nigeria’s SMEs are part of it.”

Adeniji Presents Oloja by Payxy as a Solution

Adeniji used the event to introduce Oloja by Payxy, a digital commerce platform developed by Proximaforte Ltd, which he described as a direct response to the structural challenges facing SMEs.

According to him, the platform was designed to help businesses establish a unified online presence while managing payments, inventory, and records through a single system.

“Oloja by Payxy was built specifically to bridge the digital visibility gap for micro, small, and medium enterprises,” Adeniji said. “It gives local merchants the ability to instantly set up a unified virtual storefront and handle transactions through a centralised, link-based infrastructure.”

He explained that the platform enables business owners to create professional digital storefronts, manage inventory, maintain financial records, and receive payments without relying on multiple disconnected tools.

Adeniji added that the platform aims to help businesses transition from isolated selling to broader participation in regional and global commerce.

“The idea is to move businesses from isolated selling into collective sales and distribution within African countries and globally,” Adeniji said while explaining the platform’s vision. “We are not just building a shop. We are building the infrastructure for the next generation of Nigerian commerce.”

Adeniji Challenges SMEs to Prioritise Growth

Concluding his presentation, Adeniji challenged entrepreneurs, policymakers, and stakeholders in the SME ecosystem to move beyond discussions and embrace practical solutions that can drive growth.

“We keep having conversations about SME growth at conferences, and then everyone goes back to their WhatsApp groups and nothing changes,” Adeniji said. “The tools exist now. The infrastructure exists now. The question is whether business owners are willing to stop looking busy and start actually growing.”

He urged SMEs to adopt structured digital systems and move away from fragmented business operations that limit scalability.

“You cannot build a scalable business on a WhatsApp broadcast list,” Adeniji said. “You need a system. You need a storefront. You need data. Oloja gives you all three.”

According to Adeniji, Nigerian SMEs have the potential to drive significant economic growth, but achieving that potential will require a deliberate shift from constant activity to strategic, technology-driven expansion.