As Nigeria grapples with high inflation, volatile FX policies, and fragile investor sentiment, a cross-section of policymakers, founders, and investors have identified value creation, collaboration as critical in driving the country’s economic future.
Gathered in Lagos at The Star Network Podcast and HoaQ in a roundtable in partnership with Mainstack titled “Macros of Africa’s Largest Economy: Investing in Nigeria Over the Next Five Years, the stakeholders asked pertinent questions on how to drive growth.
Moderated by Joe Kinvi, founder, Borderless & Co-founder, HoaQ, and Zephia Ovia-Ikem, founder, The Star Network, the discussion featured Francis Sani, technical adviser to the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy; Efe Barber, special adviser to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Michael Famoroti, founder, Stears; Rolake Kayantao, Africa Regional director, Seedstars; and Emeka Ajene, founder, AfriDigest.
The core message was that sustainable growth depends on collaboration between government and business to produce trade and create value at scale.
“We can’t keep reacting to crises; we need to build systems that anticipate them,” said Francis Sani, emphasising that innovation remains Nigeria’s fastest path to growth, but only if companies create value that keeps talent at home. “Job creation doesn’t stop at training people,” he said. “It’s about building companies that make talent want to stay and thrive here.”
Efe Barber tied Nigeria’s macro outlook to its export competitiveness.
“Whether the naira appreciates or not depends on how intentionally we position our exports,” she said. “It’s about building the right bilateral relationships, creating an enabling environment for trade, and telling our own story better.”
She added that the government’s push for connected production hubs and digital trade is part of a broader plan to reduce import dependence and move Nigeria closer to a $1 trillion economy. “Made in Nigeria isn’t just a slogan,” Barber noted. “It’s how we lead across markets globally”
From the data front, Michael Famoroti anchored the discussion in hard numbers. “The market today is brutal, but what matters is the trend,” he said. “In 18 to 26 months, we’ll start to see demand rebound, the data already points that way.” He observed that investors are “paying for credibility, not just yield,” noting that portfolio inflows into Nigeria fell 35 percent year-on-year, while markets with clearer policy signals saw steadier capital.
The debate on the naira’s future revealed both caution and optimism. Famoroti described it as undervalued but likely to depreciate short-term, while Rolake Rosiji Kayantao offered a counterpoint: “Recent export growth shows the naira could strengthen if we sustain this momentum.” She also urged policymakers to unlock domestic private capital: “Nigeria has raised only a quarter of the local capital it could,” she said. “We need government-led mechanisms to de-risk local funds like the UK’s SEIS model that encourages investors to take bigger bets.”
Emeka Ajene underscored that reforms must translate into jobs. “More jobs need to be created, and the government has to enable that to happen,” he said. He added that Nigeria already leads culturally, “in music, fashion, entertainment” but must turn that influence into scalable business value. “Nigeria is already attractive,” he said. “The question is how we turn culture into commerce and export business the same way we export music.”
Sani concluded by urging alignment and integrity: “There’s such a gap between our identity as citizens and that of the nation,” he said. “The green pastures we seek are here, if we build with integrity and invest in our own systems.”
The audience, a cross-section of founders, investors, operators, entrepreneurs and creatives from across Africa made the discussion even richer. Their questions pressed for actionable insight: How should early-stage investors hedge FX risk? What will it take to make manufacturing scalable again? Where should Africa’s next billion dollars of private capital go?
Across the two-hour discussion, it became clear that Africa’s economic future will hinge on integrity, value creation and collaboration.
