Lagos – Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) has successfully concluded a three-day intensive training programme designed to improve the capacity of Nigerian Enterprise Support Organisations (ESOs) and Business Development Service (BDS) providers with tools and strategies required to deliver scalable and high-impact business support to social enterprises in the country.
The training, which brought together leaders and programme managers from across Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, focused on equipping participants with practical methodologies to drive sustainable enterprise growth.
Through immersive sessions, industry experts provided deep insights into the Argidius SCALE framework, a globally recognised approach for optimising business support services.
The capacity enhancing training programme was funded by the UK International Development of the UK Government in the third phase of the RISA Fund’s Sustainable Systems for Research and Innovation Financing Project (SSRIF III), thus marking a significant step toward strengthening Nigeria’s enterprise development landscape, and ensuring that business support organisations can effectively improve the quality of their services, reach more entrepreneurs, enhance business sustainability, and drive economic growth.
The Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) is a leading organisation dedicated to advancing impact investing in Nigeria by facilitating knowledge sharing, policy advocacy, and information flow to encourage the development of impact investing. Its vision is to unlock domestic and international capital, seeking to make impactful investments that benefit people across diverse sectors and geographies in Nigeria.
During the programme, participants, drawn from across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, gained hands-on experience in applying the Argidius SCALE framework to improve business support models, developing sustainable strategies for scaling ESO services, measuring and enhancing impact through evaluation best practices, creating actionable roadmaps for implementing SCALE across diverse business environments and fostering collaboration and peer learning to build a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“By equipping ESOs and BDS providers with the right tools and frameworks, we are strengthening Nigeria’s entrepreneurial support system. This training will not only improve service delivery but also enhance the overall sustainability and scalability of the businesses they support,” Etemore Glover, CEO, Impact Investors Foundation, said on the impact of the training programme.
The Programme Manager, Nigeria ESO Collaborative, Ucha Unimke-Ulayi, said, “Through the 20 trained ESOs, we are set to support 100 SMEs over the next nine months, with a strong focus on inclusivity. This includes 20 women-led enterprises, 20 businesses led by persons with disabilities, and 20 youth-run ventures, ensuring that impact-driven support reaches those who need it most.”
With the successful completion of this training, IIF remains committed to fostering enterprise growth by ensuring that ESOs and BDS providers are well-positioned to support entrepreneurs effectively. The Foundation will continue to drive capacity-building initiatives, knowledge-sharing opportunities, and collaborative efforts that unlock the full potential of Nigeria’s impact-driven enterprises.
IIF has significantly advanced Nigerian impact investing through diverse programmes like convenings, deal matchmaking, capacity building, and research. Its public-private partnerships have garnered government support, notably positioning the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning as the “Champion Ministry” and leading to the $1 billion Nigerian Wholesale Impact Investment Fund. The Nigerian National Advisory Board for Impact Investing (NABII), an initiative of IIF, tackles industry challenges across capital supply and demand, policy, and intermediation.
This has led to the $1 billion Nigerian Wholesale Impact Investment Fund (WIIF), with government backing, to address MSME financing gaps. Other initiatives include Deal Source Africa, facilitating $1.7 million in deals, the Nigerian Impact Investment and Industry Research Collaborative (NIIRIC) promoting research commercialisation, and the Enterprise Support Organisation (ESO) Collaborative empowering 184 ESOs to develop investment-ready businesses and influence policy. These efforts drive sustainable development and economic growth in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Enterprise Support Organisations (ESOs) Collaborative is a programme of the Impact Investors Foundation with support from the RISA Fund of the UK International Development. This programme is building a strong network of diverse ESOs that share a common goal to drive sustainable economic growth through entrepreneurship. This is by pooling collective expertise and resources to enhance the capacity of Nigerian ESOs to foster collaboration, innovation, and capacity building.
Through a comprehensive range of services, strategic initiatives, and collaborative frameworks; the Collaborative is empowering enterprise support organisations to drive economic growth through a supportive ecosystem where Nigerian enterprises can thrive, grow, and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s economic prosperity and societal well-being.
