Seventy-nine per cent of businesses in the informal economy record increase in their cost of doing business over the past one year, MoniePoint’s Informal Economy Report, 2025 says.
The report unveiled in Abuja on Oct. 17, said informal business owners disclosed that the increase was due to high prices from suppliers, hike in transportation costs, and the depreciation of the Naira.
Informal businesses according to the report are small enterprises in the country that are not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The report said majority of businesses in the informal economy representing 65 per cent had experienced some increase in their business revenue over the past year.
It, however, said the impact of the increase on the profit of the businesses were lower with only about 47 per cent of them reporting a corresponding increase in their profit.
In loans, MoniePoint in the report said one in three of the informal businesses reported that the highest amount they had received as loan was N100,000 or less.
According to the report, only six per cent of informal businesses have secured loans exceeding one million naira.
”Informal businesses owned by men are twice as likely to get loans above one million naira as women owned businesses.
”Moniepoint builds for the informal sector by creating financial solutions that meet the unique needs of small business owners in Nigeria’s informal economy.
”Recognising that many in this sector operate without formal banking relationships, we provide accessible tools that simplify payments, collections, and help them manage their businesses.
”Rather than exclude them entirely, we work with the banking tiers made available by the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that we can still bank them, even when their businesses are small.
”Integrations within our platform also make it possible for them to register their businesses within the app, and become formally recognised, opening them up to even more support,” the bank said in the report.