By Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
As Nigeria ushers in its comprehensive tax reform laws effective January 1, 2026, small businesses stand to benefit significantly from provisions designed to ease their tax burdens and encourage growth. Under the new regulations, small companies with annual turnover not exceeding N100 million and fixed assets below N250 million will be fully exempted from Companies Income Tax (CIT), Capital Gains Tax (CGT), and the 4% Development Levy.
This exemption is a deliberate strategy to incentivize business formalization and expansion rather than penalize enterprise. However, many women entrepreneurs remain unaware of these specifics, risking being misled into paying taxes they are exempted from, or facing penalties for non-compliance with new digital filing and reporting requirements.
The 5th Women Enterprise Alliance (WenA) Conference served as an essential platform to educate women-led SMEs about these reforms, ensuring they are empowered with the knowledge to protect their businesses and seize new opportunities.
Opening the conference themed “Translating Policy into Practice: Cost Reduction and Tax Reforms for Sustainable SME Growth,” Senior Special Assistant to the on Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation in the Digital Economy, Chayla Shagaya, described women-led SMEs as “the quiet economists of every household” and a “central pillar of Nigeria’s economic resilience.” “Across Nigeria, women entrepreneurs are innovating, employing, and solving local problems with global relevance,” she said, highlighting that over 70% of public inputs on SME policy reforms have come from women.
Shagaya emphasized the government’s commitment to reducing operational costs and expanding access to finance through reforms like the Presidential Power Initiative, digital financing pathways, and tax harmonisation. Humorously addressing traditional hurdles, she noted, “You no longer need to bring your grandmother’s land title to secure a loan,” a reference to widening access to credit without cumbersome collateral demands. “We are moving policies from paper to practice — especially to support women at the heart of our enterprise sector,” Shagaya affirmed, underscoring the importance of responsive government action under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Founder of WenA, Aisha Babangida, vividly painted the realities women entrepreneurs face, lamenting persistent barriers such as complicated tax codes, licensing regulations, and limited access to capital. “When I founded WenA, I thought passion was enough. But it wasn’t,” she confessed. “The paperwork, the tax codes, the licensing rules — these were heavy even for those of us with networks. Imagine what it’s like for a woman starting a micro-business in a rural town with little support.”
She praised Kaduna State’s Affirmative Action Procurement Reform Initiative, which has introduced female representation on procurement boards, waived registration fees, and reserved public contracts for women-led businesses. “Inclusive procurement is not a concession to women; it is an economic strategy,” she emphasised. To further facilitate women entrepreneurs’ access to public contracts, Ms. Babangida announced WenA’s forthcoming National Certification Programme that will boost documentation, compliance, and capacity-building. “Our goal is not to highlight problems but to unlock solutions. Today, we move from policy talk to practical tools — from exclusion to empowerment,” she declared.
A groundbreaking announcement by Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, represented at the conference by Olufemi Olarinde, brought significant relief to small businesses. “We are introducing a tax exemption threshold where businesses earning up to N100 million annually will be exempt from corporate income tax starting January 2026,” said Adedeji. He described this as “a deliberate strategy to incentivise growth, not penalise enterprise.” This reform aims to reduce compliance burdens, encourage formalisation, and foster competitiveness among SMEs, particularly those led by women.
Adedeji also revealed the rollout of a Unified Tax Identification Number (UTIN), which will centralise tax registration across the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), FIRS, and other agencies to simplify compliance. Furthermore, FIRS is transitioning to fully digital tax filing, ending paper-based bureaucracy. “Taxation should support the formalisation and scaling of small businesses — not stifle them,” he asserted.
Addressing Unpaid Care Work: UN Women and AfDB’s Push for Care-Responsive Policies
UN Women Nigeria’s representative at the event, Aisha Bendo-Alkali, highlighted a critical yet often overlooked barrier for women entrepreneurs — unpaid care work. Supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), she called for care-responsive policies to enable women’s greater economic participation. “Reducing the burden of unpaid care is not just a gender equality goal — it is essential to unlocking national productivity,” she said, advocating for scaling up inclusive procurement policies nationwide.
The conference culminated in an inspiring awards session recognizing outstanding women-led SMEs in North-Central Nigeria. The Most Scalable Business award of N5 million was presented to Patience Adebayo of GreenRoots AgriTech for her pioneering urban agriculture venture. The first runner-up, Chinedu Okoro of TechServe, received N3 million for innovative IT solutions supporting local businesses, while second runner-up Adaeze Nwankwo of CraftWorks earned N2 million for her resilient artisan handicraft enterprise. Additionally, three other SMEs were honoured with certificates of excellence for their innovative and resilient business models. In a show of support for grassroots entrepreneurs, WenA pledged free business registration for 50 women-owned enterprises to tackle entry barriers and strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
In her closing remarks, Aisha Babangida emphasised that real reform is measured by tangible impact on everyday women entrepreneurs. “A real reform is when a woman in Kaduna, Aba, or Makurdi feels the change in her daily hustle — when she can register her business in minutes, access capital without fear, and supply to the government without discrimination,” she said.
Shagaya reinforced this message: “Empowering women entrepreneurs is not charity; it is a national strategy — and the path to building a resilient and inclusive Nigerian economy.”
The 5th WenA Conference marked a milestone, bringing together policymakers, financiers, development partners, and entrepreneurs united in advancing a gender-inclusive economic framework that leaves no woman behind.
— The Sun
Post A Comment: