The recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) represents a landmark policy milestone. For the first time in Nigeria’s economic planning, the twin institutions responsible for enterprise growth and market regulation are formally converging to bridge the financing divide that has long stifled small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Read more on the MoU:https://stakebridgeirpr.com/media/2025/10/20/sec-smedan-sign-mou-to-boost-sme-access-to-capital-market/

This MoU is not a routine bureaucratic exercise; it is a signal of intent – that Nigeria’s over 40 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can, and should, find structured access to long-term capital through the nation’s capital market. If properly implemented, it could redefine the DNA of enterprise development in this country.

But even as we commend this forward-looking initiative, we must look deeper. It is one thing to create access to capital, and another to earn investor confidence. Between policy ambition and market participation lies a critical bridge that Nigeria has yet to institutionalize – the bridge of Investor Relations (IR) and Public Communication (PR).

The Promise of the SEC–SMEDAN Partnership

As announced in Abuja, the SEC–SMEDAN MoU aims to create alternative funding pathways for SMEs by helping qualifying enterprises raise funds through equity or debt securities under SEC’s regulatory framework. The partnership is also designed to integrate MSMEs into the formal financial system, ensuring that they meet governance and compliance standards that will make them viable participants in the capital market.

Dr. Emomotimi Agama, Director-General (DG) of SEC, rightly described the move as aligning with President Bola Tinubu’s economic agenda of employment, growth, development, and production – a critical step toward the $1 trillion economy vision. His counterpart at SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii, emphasized that the partnership would help small businesses overcome the high cost and scarcity of capital by opening up new channels of financing through the capital market.

Both statements point to a unified policy vision – to democratize access to finance. Yet, for this vision to translate into measurable outcomes, we must focus not only on access to capital but on access to credibility.

Beyond Capital Access: The Credibility Imperative

We know that finance follows trust. For MSMEs to attract investment through the capital market, they must first inspire investor confidence. That confidence is not built on regulation alone; it is built through transparency, consistent communication, and visible governance. These are not peripheral functions – they are the backbone of sustainable investor engagement.

This is where Investor Relations (IR) becomes indispensable. IR is not a luxury reserved for listed corporations; it is a foundational discipline for any enterprise seeking to attract patient, long-term capital. It transforms raw business ambition into a credible investment proposition.

Investor Relations helps MSMEs to:

• Articulate their business models and value creation story.
• Maintain regular financial disclosures and operational updates.
• Build structured investor communication channels.
• Translate technical performance into investment-grade narratives that inspire confidence.

In essence, the SEC–SMEDAN partnership has built the bridge, but IR provides the tools to cross it.

Public Communication as a Policy Instrument

While IR builds credibility with investors, Public Relations (PR) builds trust with the public. For this MoU to succeed, Nigerians must believe in the story of the capital market as a platform for inclusion – not intimidation.

PR must therefore play a strategic role in translating this policy into public understanding. We must humanize the capital market by telling relatable stories: stories of small manufacturers in Aba who scale through market funding; of tech founders in Kaduna who issue small corporate bonds; of agro-processors in Benue who expand through equity partnerships.

Without structured communication, the MoU risks remaining a press headline rather than a movement. Policy success in today’s economy is not achieved by decree but by narrative management – the deliberate effort to shape perception, sustain engagement, and communicate outcomes.

Strategic PR ensures that this initiative gains public legitimacy, attracts new participants, and sustains investor confidence. It turns economic policy into economic participation.

Bridging Policy & Practice: The Role of Communication Infrastructure

The biggest challenge facing Nigeria’s MSME ecosystem is not lack of ideas, but lack of structure and communication literacy. Many small business owners neither understand the capital market nor how to present their enterprise in a way that aligns with investor expectations.

This communication gap is both technical and cultural. It explains why, despite numerous government interventions, the pipeline of investor-ready MSMEs remains shallow.

For the SEC–SMEDAN partnership to succeed, we must therefore complement financial reforms with communication infrastructure – investor readiness training, disclosure templates, governance handbooks, and capital market explainer toolkits.

MSMEs must learn the grammar of investor engagement:

• How to report performance transparently.
• How to communicate risks and growth plans credibly.
• How to tell their value creation story to potential funders.

This is not a short-term task. It requires a nationwide reorientation, delivered through technical partners with expertise in Investor Relations and Public Communication.

Institutionalizing Investor Readiness: A Policy Priority

To ensure sustainability, we must now institutionalize investor readiness as a national policy function. The SEC–SMEDAN collaboration should incorporate a dedicated Investor Communication and Readiness Framework, to be implemented through strategic partners in the private sector.

Such a framework could include:

• Investor Readiness Clinics at SMEDAN’s enterprise development centers.
• Capital Market Onboarding Toolkits simplifying the listing process for SMEs.
• Disclosure Literacy Campaigns teaching MSMEs how to communicate performance and governance effectively.
• Visibility Platforms (digital deal rooms) connecting ready-to-fund MSMEs with local and diaspora investors.

This structure will transform the MoU from a bilateral agreement into a national movement – one that builds confidence from the bottom up.

Communication as Capital

In global markets, communication itself is a form of capital. It is the intangible currency that converts investor interest into financial commitment. For Nigeria’s MSMEs, cultivating that credibility will determine whether this MoU delivers transformative financing or remains a policy experiment.

We must accept that regulatory architecture alone cannot sustain trust. The SEC can provide oversight, and SMEDAN can mobilize enterprises, but only communication – structured, strategic, and sustained – can guarantee engagement.

It is time we recognized communication professionals as policy enablers, not postscript actors. In developed markets, Investor Relations departments are institutionalized because policymakers understand that investors do not fund balance sheets; they fund stories, transparency, and trust.

Nigeria’s trillion-dollar economy aspiration will not be driven by regulation alone, but by the stories we tell about our productivity, our governance, and our ambition.

The Private Sector’s Role in Policy Implementation

This is where firms like ours, StakeBridge IRPR Consulting Limited, stand ready to act. As practitioners in Investor Relations and Public Communication, we understand that bridging MSMEs and capital markets requires more than financial data – it requires communication design.

StakeBridge’s investor readiness and communications model focuses on:

• Preparing MSMEs for investor conversations through tailored Investor Readiness Kits.
• Simplifying regulatory complexity into clear, actionable visual explainers and scorecards.
• Managing public trust through strategic media storytelling and policy visibility campaigns.
• Creating a DealRoom that matches investor-ready MSMEs with vetted funding partners.

By partnering with institutions like SEC and SMEDAN, we can help translate policy intent into enterprise outcomes – ensuring that thousands of small businesses become visible, credible, and investable.

Toward a Culture of Transparency and Governance

We must also be clear: access to capital markets will demand a new governance culture among Nigerian SMEs. The MoU will not bear fruit unless enterprises embrace transparency, accountability, and structured reporting.

Investor Relations plays a crucial role in guiding this transition. Through IR frameworks, small businesses can begin to formalize how they communicate value, manage expectations, and respond to market feedback. Over time, this will strengthen governance, reduce information asymmetry, and improve market efficiency.

For government agencies, this is an opportunity to mainstream IR and PR into national enterprise policy – much like financial literacy programs, but focused on communication and governance. Such an approach would permanently change how Nigerian businesses engage the world.

From Policy to Participation: What Must Come Next

We must therefore urge both SEC and SMEDAN to take three deliberate steps in the implementation of this MoU:

1. Create a Joint Investor Readiness Secretariat – to coordinate communication, training, and MSME listing support across the six geopolitical zones.
2. Engage Technical Communication Partners – firms that specialize in IR and PR for MSMEs, capable of producing investor education materials and campaign content.
3. Launch a National SME Capital Market Awareness Campaign – using TV, radio, print, and digital media to educate and inspire participation.

If these steps are taken, Nigeria will not only democratize access to capital but also deepen the culture of transparency and investment accountability.

Our Collective Responsibility

The SEC–SMEDAN partnership deserves national applause. It embodies the kind of institutional collaboration Nigeria needs – where agencies converge on solutions rather than compete for relevance. But the success of this initiative will depend on how well we sustain investor confidence and public understanding.

We must all – regulators, policymakers, MSME leaders, communication experts, and investors – take ownership of this transformation.

As a nation, we cannot build a trillion-dollar economy on informal communication structures and unverified data. We must professionalize how we tell our economic story. The world invests in clarity, not opacity.

We therefore call on the SEC, SMEDAN, and relevant policy stakeholders to recognize Investor Relations and Public Communication as essential components of Nigeria’s MSME financing architecture. It is time to move beyond access – toward readiness, visibility, and credibility.

At StakeBridge IRPR Consulting, we stand ready to collaborate with policymakers, regulators, and enterprise leaders to design and deploy the frameworks, toolkits, and training systems that will empower MSMEs to communicate transparently, attract sustainable investment, and strengthen Nigeria’s economic base.

Because in the end, the success of the SEC–SMEDAN MoU will not be measured by how many enterprises it registers, but by how many it transforms – from small businesses into investment-ready institutions powering Nigeria’s trillion-dollar dream.