LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Moniepoint Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Tosin Eniolorunda, has said that Africa’s biggest business opportunity lies in the continent’s informal economy, warning that companies focusing only on the formal sector risk missing a major source of growth.
Speaking at the Lagos Business School Breakfast Club on the theme “Building for the Bottom of the Pyramid,” Eniolorunda argued that informal markets continue to drive a large share of economic activity across Africa but remain under-served by traditional business models.
He said companies that focus only on customers with formal financial identities and documentation may be limiting their long-term growth potential.
“The companies that will create the most value over the next decade will not necessarily be those building for the most visible customers. They will be those willing to understand and design for markets that have historically been overlooked,” he said.
Eniolorunda explained that many businesses mistakenly assume informal markets are difficult to serve due to a lack of data, but argued that the real issue is that existing systems fail to capture their economic activity.
READ ALSO: Nigeria Poised to Emerge As Africa’s Third Largest Economy — NOA
“Most businesses are designed around the visible economy. They serve customers with formal identities, formal records, formal addresses and predictable financial histories. Yet a significant share of economic activity happens outside those structures,” he said.
He added that traders, artisans, transport operators and small business owners generate consistent economic activity that is often not captured by traditional financial systems.
“The problem is not the absence of economic activity. It is our inability to capture, interpret and serve it effectively,” he said.
Describing the informal sector as a major commercial opportunity, he said businesses that successfully engage it will shape the next phase of African commerce.
“The bottom of the pyramid is often discussed as a development challenge. Increasingly, I believe it should be viewed as a business opportunity. The scale is significant and the need is real,” he said.
He also linked the future of financial inclusion to digital payment systems, noting that transaction data from such platforms can help expand access to credit for small businesses excluded from formal banking systems.
According to him, companies that combine payments infrastructure, data, and credit solutions are likely to play a central role in expanding financial inclusion across the continent.
