Global food delivery and courier platform, Glovo, has launched the Glovo Academy in Abuja to support small businesses and boost Nigeria’s fast-growing micro, small, and medium enterprises sector.
Speaking at the launch on Tuesday, Head of Commercial, Glovo Nigeria, Kolawole Adeniyi, said the company was deepening its investment in Africa by prioritising the growth of smaller businesses. He explained that Glovo, which was founded in 2015 and entered Africa in 2018, had already invested €206m across six African countries, including Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Uganda.
According to him, the continent had generated over €1bn for more than 40,000 business partners, with 90 per cent of them being SMEs. “In Africa, we have 60,000 riders who rely on us for sustenance, and our partners have earned more than €1bn since we launched here,” Adeniyi said. “What is critical is that we don’t just support big businesses.
Over 90 per cent of our partners across Africa are SMEs, and in Nigeria, it’s even higher at about 95 per cent. That shows the level of impact we’re making on the grassroots economy.”
He added that in Nigeria alone, Glovo had delivered about N55bn in value to its partners since its 2021 entry into the market, with more than 5,000 businesses and 12,000 riders benefiting from its platform. “Most global companies come to Africa to extract as much as they can. We have taken a different approach by putting significant resources back into the continent without expecting immediate returns. Nigeria represents one of the biggest opportunities globally due to its growing youth population and market size,” Adeniyi stressed.
Head of Growth and Head of Abuja Business, Glovo Nigeria, Reni Onafeko, highlighted the company’s rapid expansion in the capital city. “Abuja is one of our focus communities and we have delivered about two million orders,” Onafeko said. “More than 1,000 partners have come on board in Abuja alone, while over 2,000 riders have earned income through Glovo. This shows how fast the business is growing and how much value is being transferred to local partners.”
Onafeko added that the launch of the Glovo Academy was aimed at building skills and creating sustainable growth for small businesses that make up the majority of Glovo’s ecosystem in Nigeria. “Every partner we work with contributes to the Nigerian economy. Initiatives like this academy will help us scale sustainably while adding more value to the economy,” she said.
With Nigeria ranking as one of Glovo’s fastest-growing markets worldwide, the company said it expected the country to soon rival its largest markets in Spain and Italy. At the launch of the Glovo Academy in Abuja, panellists from the government and the private sector emphasised that micro, small, and medium enterprises must be at the heart of Nigeria’s economic transformation.
Senior Special Adviser on Strategic Communications to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ifeoma Williams, said SMEs were the “backbone” of Nigeria’s economy and would remain critical to the country’s development ambitions. “According to SMEDAN data, Nigeria has over 39 million SMEs, contributing at least 40 per cent to GDP and creating more than 80 per cent of jobs,” Williams said. “There is no economy without SMEs. They are the lifeblood of Nigeria’s growth.”
Williams identified digital commerce, agribusiness, the creative industries, and renewable energy as the sectors most likely to drive growth in the next decade. She added that the government’s role was to enable rather than compete with entrepreneurs.
“For the first time in more than 30 years, Nigeria now has an industrial policy, validated last month and set to be unveiled at the NESG Summit,” she revealed. “The government also provides affordable financing, including a N75bn facility for MSMEs at single-digit interest, but many entrepreneurs cannot access it because their structures and paperwork are not in order. If you are serious about business, you must get your framework right.”
Head of ICT at the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Kayode Meyanbe, who represented the DG of SMEDAN, noted that the agency had intensified efforts to ease registration and access to finance.
Meyanbe added that SMEDAN was developing a new curriculum to address gaps in business knowledge, stressing that many entrepreneurs lacked structured training. “We are working with business schools and development service providers to deliver need-based skills across the country,” he said.
From the private sector, the founder of the food chain brand Ahmed Shawarma, Tijjani Mustapha, shared the practical difficulties of running a small business in Nigeria. “Operational challenges in food service are a daily reality,” he said. “At the early stage, our biggest test was covering costs while growing sales. Later, human resources became the bigger headache. If you want to survive, you must learn to delegate and maintain consistency. Customers notice every lapse.”
Mustapha admitted that missteps in staffing once forced him to shut down a branch for months. However, he said feedback from customers and embracing technology had helped the brand recover.
“Platforms like Glovo, Instagram, and Facebook are no longer optional. They give you visibility, customer insights, and the convenience that modern consumers demand. For us, technology has been central to scaling and maintaining quality,” he said. The panel concluded that while Nigeria’s 39 million SMEs face significant challenges, sustained investment, smarter policies, more affordable financing, and digital adoption will be crucial in ensuring they deliver on their promise of creating jobs and promoting inclusive growth.
