AREWA Festival to Showcase Entrepreneurial Skills, Culture in Kano

In line with the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Week, themed: ‘Together We Build’, AREWA Festival, in partnership with Tripoint Academy, GEN, T2, TAJ Bank, ONGA, and SANEF, among others, is organising a two-day trade and entrepreneurship expo that will bring together entrepreneurs from the 19 Northern states under one umbrella to celebrate and showcase trade and entrepreneurship.
Designed to hold in Kano from 22nd and 23rd of November, the event will connect to all registered entrepreneurs from the19 Northern states in Nigeria, to showcase their products and skills at the Kano trade fair.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, Founder, Tripoint Academy and Convener, AREWA Festival, Mrs. Shuhda Muhammed, said the trade fair would be extended to South-south, South-west and South-east states in Nigeria in subsequent years.

According to her, “We are beginning with Northern Nigeria being a very conservative region in Africa, but with lots of established entrepreneurs. We have a history of trade in Northern Nigeria. At a time we had visitors coming from Chad, Cameroon, Niger to export textiles materials from Nigeria to their various countries, but over time, that diminished. AREWA Festival is another way of showcasing the Nigerian entrepreneurship skills and culture, including food and fashion to Africa and the rest of the world.”
We’ve invited a lot of our brothers and sisters from other parts of Nigeria and Africa to be a part of this, and they’re all coming as we look forward to having an immersive marketplace experience that everyone would speak about, Muhammed further said.

Managing Director, GEN Nigeria, Dr. Olawale Anifowose, said as partner to AREWA Festival, it would be celebrating the Global Entrepreneurship Week, which according to him, is a time to celebrate those people that truly are helping to drive the Nigerian economy. “These are the entrepreneurs that manage small and medium scale businesses. They are the innovators, and the creative enterprises that help us to connect with many of the markets in different parts of the world. So the AREWA Festival will help to showcase the creativity and the industriousness of Northern Nigeria, it’s important that GEN in Nigeria supports such a festival,” Anifowose said.

Head, Culinary Category at Onga, Omotayo Olaobaju, said the food company would support the exhibition in order to promote Nigerian rich varieties of food.

“And as part of our commitment to the festival, we are setting in cash as a kind reward for food entrepreneurs just to show support and affinity with other consumers,” Olaobaju said.
VP, Sales and Distribution (North) at T2, Ibrahim Katsina, said as a telecommunications company, T2 would support entrepreneurs with creative and the digital skills that would further grow the Nigerian economy.

“We will be supporting Nigerians that are probably the most tenacious people on the surface of the earth, which is evident in the way Nigerian entrepreneurs do businesses,” Katsina said.
COO, Tripoint Travels, Mrs. Taiwo Oyeniyi said as a travel management company that handles tourism, the company would create opportunities for SMEs and entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services at the trade fair.