Expanding Opportunities Through Small Retailers in Nigeria

Substantial research highlights a critical need for business skills training among owners of "mom and pop" shops in urban areas. Launched in July 2015, the Digitizing Mom and Pop Shops program was a two-year partnership between Citi Foundation and TechnoServe to increase the financial return and growth of small retail shops in Abuja, Nigeria.

TechnoServe’s extensive experience and success in delivering training to entrepreneurs and integrating technology solutions has allowed us to deliver a unique and tailored approach, where we improved the performance of the shops through better financial and operations management, advanced marketing, and adoption of digital solutions for payments and inventory management.

TechnoServe also facilitated improved relationships with lenders, suppliers, customers and supporting service providers, while enhancing coordination and collaboration among mom and pop shops across the city. Additionally in Nigeria, we tested different training models through three different training cohorts to be able to evaluate and identify the most effective model for the highest likelihood of sustainable impact. Working with small retailers allowed TechnoServe to create a double impact: increasing employment and livelihoods by improving the shops’ efficiency, while also creating market opportunities for products from local small-scale farmers and processors. The Nigeria program worked with 50 shops and we anticipated that 75 percent will adopt digital business enhancing solutions and at least half will increase their revenues by a minimum of 30 percent.

TechnoServe is implementing a similar program in Nairobi, Kenya.