Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN Nigeria), in collaboration with Fidelity Bank Plc and other organisations, has encouraged young entrepreneurs from Nigeria to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their businesses.
The call was made during the Youth Entrepreneurship Dialogue, themed: ‘Building the future with AI: technology, talent, and transformation entrepreneurship’ held during the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Lagos, and was powered by GEN Nigeria.
Speaking at the dialogue, Dr. Olawale Anifowose, the managing director of GEN Nigeria, said,
“AI is important to local enterprises in Nigeria for enhancing productivity, driving innovation, and improving competitiveness. It achieves this by automating tasks, personalizing customer experiences through data analysis, and enabling entrepreneurs to build and scale new products and services more efficiently.”
He said,
“AI is also critical for the growth of key sectors like finance, healthcare, and agriculture, and the adoption of these technologies is becoming essential for businesses to stay competitive.”
On enhancing efficiency and productivity, Dr. Anifowose stated that AI can handle repetitive tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more creative and strategic work, ultimately boosting productivity.
Adoption of AI can improve decision-making, by analyzing vast amounts of data, AI provides businesses with actionable insights to make more informed decisions and predict trends, he said.
When a local enterprise adopts AI, this can drive innovation and economic growth. For instance, this can foster new products and services.
AI-powered solutions, like those in fintech, healthcare, and agriculture, are creating new opportunities for Nigerian entrepreneurs to innovate and address local needs.
“On building future competitiveness, the integration of AI is a key step for Nigerian businesses to modernize their operations and remain competitive both locally and globally. Initiatives that support AI talent development are crucial for building the skilled workforce needed to drive and sustain this technological transformation,” Dr. Anifowose enthused.
The guest speaker/CEO of Bildup AI, Mr. Chibuike Aguene, who spoke on the theme:
‘Building the future with AI: technology, talent, and transformation entrepreneurship’, said that “My presentation focused primarily on AI, talking about the technology, transformational entrepreneurship, and talent, which, for me, is the future, and any entrepreneur who ignores it, does that at his peril. But any entrepreneur who embraces it would have the best moment.”
“We are transitioning into an era of hybrid intelligence where humans will augment their intelligence with AI. And when you talk about transformational entrepreneurship, it is about this era, building an intelligent system. It is systems that can adapt, learn, and evolve in real time,” Aguene added.
Cynthia Ogbonna, the head, Brand Management at Fidelity Bank Plc, said,
“We are partnering with GEN Nigeria and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University to bring this to the teeming young entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses in Nigeria. It’s an opportunity for like-minded individuals to talk about entrepreneurship, technology, and talent, and how we can scale as an economy, improve, and grow enterprises.”
She said,
“The Nigerian youth population is large, over 60%, and there are a lot of opportunities to be harnessed from that particular population. So, this gathering is to talk about issues that revolve around transformation, entrepreneurship, technology, and scaling businesses.”
At Fidelity Bank, Ogbonna stressed that “We have a lot of products that target and support businesses. On this demography, we’ve seen that a lot of people are interested in the creative space in Nigeria. The creative economy is actually driving a lot of growth in the country. And to support Nigerians in that particular space, Fidelity Bank has quite a few products, such as Fidelity SME Hub and Fidelity Nigeria International Trade & Creative Connect, to support them.
Speaking on the effort of the government to advance the adoption of AI by Nigerian enterprises, GEN Nigeria MD said,
“I think there are many programs and projects that the government, through many of its departments, ministries, and agencies, such as the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises Program (iDICE). And iDICE is a project that would aggressively develop the capacity of about 600,000 people in 2026 in the skills and technical areas.”
