By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Forty-one per cent of informal businesses owned by women in Nigeria make less than N10,000 daily in profit, according to Moniepoint’s Informal Economy Report 2025.
The report also revealed that women-owned businesses tend to have shorter life spans compared to those owned by men, noting that just one in four women-owned businesses survives beyond five years.
The report, produced in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), examines trends among millions of unregistered micro and small enterprises (MSEs).
It noted that by comparison, only 34 per cent of men-owned informal businesses earn less than N10,000 daily in profit, adding that 16 per cent of men-owned businesses, as against 10 per cent of those owned by women, earn above N50,000.
The report also showed a decline in the percentage of women business owners in the informal economy, with the figure dropping from 37 per cent in 2024 to 35 per cent in 2025.
“Forty one per cent of women-owned businesses in the informal economy earn less than ₦10,000 per day in profit, compared to 34 per cent of businesses owned by men. On the other hand, 16 per cent of men-owned businesses earn above N50,000 compared to 10 per cent of women-owned businesses,” the report reads.
“The majority of businesses in the informal economy (65 per cent) have experienced some sort of increase in their business revenue over the past year.
“However, the impact on profit is lower, with only about 47 per cent of them reporting a corresponding increase in their profit.”
According to the report, informal businesses across the country noted heightened cost pressure, resulting from such factors as increased cost of transportation and prices from suppliers, and naira devaluation.
It stated: “79 per cent of businesses in the informal economy report that their cost of doing business has increased over the past year.
“According to them, this increase resulted from multiple things, with the top reasons being increased prices from suppliers, an increase in transportation costs, and the depreciation of the naira.”
In his comment, the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Moniepoint Inc., Tosin Eniolorunda, said the report aims to help stakeholders visualise the impact of their decisions on informal businesses across the country.
He said: “Under the radar, the cost of doing business has increased for 80 percent of informal businesses.
“Our goal is to help key stakeholders see and understand the effects of every decision made on informal businesses, and giving them a voice where they’ve previously gone largely unheard.”
