Some trade experts have called for a harmonised simplified, low cost and time limited incentives to encourage micro businesses to formalise or register their ventures.
The experts said this in the MoniePoint Informal Economy Report, 2025, unveiled in Abuja.
Foyinsolami Akinjayeju, the Chief Executive Officer of Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA), said time-limited incentives for formalisation such as fee waivers would help small businesses to register.
Akinjayeju said access to grants or training for newly registered micro-businesses would also encourage informal businesses to formalise their enterprises.
According to her, businesses will formalise and thrive when compliance is both easy and rewarding, and when finance is structured to support, not strain already thin margins.
”To simplify compliance and incentivise
formalisation, create a tiered registration framework where micro-businesses begin with minimal requirements and scale obligations as they grow.
”Embed compliance into mobile and agent-based platforms to cut friction; and ensure that registration immediately unlocks tangible value—such as access to finance, skills programmes, or temporary tax holidays,” she said.
The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Chinyere Almona, said in the report that executing targeted fiscal incentives required pragmatism, precision, and phased implementation.
Almona said a tiered system where micro businesses, such as street vendors or family-run shops, enjoyed simplified registration processes requiring minimal documentation would encourage them to formalise their enterprises.
”Instead of demanding board resolutions from micro-traders, the government can accept mobile-based registrations linked to NIN/BVN, drastically reducing friction.
”Fiscal support, tax credits, subsidised digital tools, and small-scale infrastructure grants should be front loaded, ensuring operators see the tangible benefits of engaging with the government,” she suggested.
The Chief Economist, BusinessDay Media, Oluyemi Adeosun, said financial incentives linked to digital and tax compliance could between 20 and 30 per cent of micro-businesses transition to semi-formal operations by 2030.
Adeosun said the move would help increase the sector’s Gross Domestic Product contribution from 58 per cent to 65 per cent.
The Managing Director, MoniePoint Microfinance Bank, Babatunde Olofin, had said the reason for bank’s existence was to create a society where everyone experienced financial happiness and their dreams powered irrespective of their sizes or status.
Olofin said the report would provide policy makers and ecosystem stakeholders with data and insight that would drive inclusive and evidence-based decisions.
He said the goal of the company was to unleash Nigeria’s full economic potential and ensure that the most vulnerable households were not left behind.
Olofin said this year’s report deepened employment, taxation, savings behaviour and business operations within the informal economy.
”The informal economy report is more than just a study. It is a mirror of Nigeria’s economic reality, especially for millions who make their living outside the formal system,” he said.
