Young Innovators Propose Digital Solutions to Boost Ease of Doing Business at NESG Conference

As the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit concluded this week, a recurring theme dominated the breakout sessions: the urgent need for homegrown, technology-driven solutions to cut through the bureaucratic red tape that continues to stifle the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). While high-level policy discussions focused on macro-economic strategy, it was the practical, ground-up innovations from a new generation of Nigerian professionals that captured the attention of many attendees.

In a session titled ‘Digital Transformation and the Future of SME Compliance’, a compelling case was made for a fundamental redesign of the government’s approach to tax and regulatory processes. One of the standout voices was Idris Ayodeji Ibiyemi, a young management consultant and accounting graduate from Babcock University.

Presenting to a packed room of entrepreneurs, investors, and public sector officials, Ibiyemi argued that Nigeria’s low ranking on global ‘Ease of Doing Business’ indices is not just a policy failure, but a design failure.

“We have a system where the burden of complexity falls squarely on the shoulders of the small business owner,” Ibiyemi stated while interacting with journalists during a break session. “An entrepreneur is forced to become an expert in navigating the disparate, non-integrated portals of the CAC, FIRS, and other agencies. The result is high costs, widespread errors, and a powerful incentive to remain in the informal sector.”

According to him his proposed system is built on three core principles: a user-centric design that simplifies complex government language, an automated workflow engine that integrates different agency requirements into a single journey, and a simplified data architecture that requires a business to enter its core information only once.

“The goal is to make compliance a manageable, automated function, not a full-time job,” he explained. “By shifting the complexity from the user to the system itself, we can dramatically increase voluntary compliance, improve the accuracy of government data, and provide a real foundation for a more transparent business environment.”

The ideas presented by Ibiyemi resonated strongly with the audience. His data-driven approach, which included a detailed analysis of the inefficiencies in the “prior art” of government compliance portals, was praised for its clarity and practical focus.

As the summit concluded with renewed calls for public-private partnerships to drive innovation, the solutions offered by emerging experts like Idris Ibiyemi serve as a powerful reminder that the next generation of Nigerian talent is not just waiting for change, but actively building the blueprints for it.