Here’s Why Nigerian Businesses Are Still Failing in 2025
Too many businesses are growing on paper but shrinking in reality. In a rapidly shifting market, sticking to what worked yesterday could quietly be costing you everything today.
Too many Nigerian businesses lose market share, or worse, die off, not because they don’t have customers, or cash, or competent teams. They die because when it mattered most, they got small-minded.
They protected their cash cows so tightly that they missed the next wave completely.
Take Ola Foods, for example. A household name in Lagos in the early 2010s. If you’ve ever had their classic jollof spice sachets or their tomato mix, you know how dominant they were in open markets and mom-and-pop stores across Southwest Nigeria.
But by 2019, cracks were showing. The market was changing: younger buyers were switching to smaller portion packs, preferring brands that came with QR codes, WhatsApp ordering options, and clean, resealable packaging. Ola Foods kept flooding the market with their big, multi-use packs, refusing to adapt because “that’s what made us number one.”
By 2023, their market share had been cut in half. In 2025, they filed for restructuring. A once-thriving business shrunk into survival mode, all because they didn’t innovate when it mattered.
Here are 5 brutal lessons from stories like Ola Foods, and how to make sure you don’t repeat their mistake.
1. What Made You Win Yesterday Can Make You Lose Tomorrow
Just because something worked five years ago doesn't mean it will still work now. In 2025, Nigerian consumer preferences are shifting faster than ever. Sachetization, digital payment adoption, social media brand loyalty—all of it matters.
Look at how Golden Penny began launching smaller packs and influencer-led campaigns on TikTok and Instagram. They realized that younger Nigerians don’t care who’s been in the market the longest; they care who’s easiest to access, trust, and relate to.
If you’re still betting on legacy and name recognition alone, you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb.
2. Your Customers Have Moved. Have You?
The average Nigerian family’s monthly food budget has changed drastically. With food inflation pushing 35% in 2025, customers are price-sensitive and value-obsessed.
That’s why many fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands like TGI Group and Dufil Prima (makers of Indomie) now offer more variety in pricing tiers, not just flavor. They cater to the ₦100 buyer and the ₦1,000 buyer.
If your business still only serves one type of customer with one type of pricing, you're leaving money and loyalty on the table.
3. Don’t Hide Behind Growth Numbers. Check Your Relevance
Just because your revenue is growing doesn’t mean you’re winning. If you’re growing slower than the market, you're shrinking in real terms.
Let’s say the FMCG sector grew 12% this year, and your business grew 6%. On paper, that’s growth. In reality, your competitors are eating your lunch.
This was Ola Foods’ blind spot. They saw ₦300 million in revenue and ignored the fact that their rivals crossed ₦700 million in the same markets. Real success isn’t just growth. It’s growth that keeps you in front.
4. If You Don’t Disrupt Yourself, Someone Else Will
Fedacash data from Q1 2025 shows that 67% of Nigerian SMEs who adopted automated invoicing and customer analytics grew faster than their peers. Why? Because they saw their weak points early and acted.
Meanwhile, many businesses are still keeping handwritten ledgers, arguing that “that’s how we’ve always done it.” That thinking is why new entrants with smaller teams and leaner processes are outpacing them.
The truth? If you don't kill your own old ideas, a startup will do it for you—faster, cheaper, and with better tech.
5. Your Loyalty to the Past is Not a Business Strategy
Sentimentality is killing businesses. Too many CEOs, GMs, and founders in Nigeria are in love with their first big win, the flagship product, the original distribution route, the supplier they’ve “known since NYSC.”
But loyalty to what worked before is not a strategy. It’s a comfort zone.
The market doesn’t care how long you've been around. It only cares how fast you're adapting. If you’re still stocking shelves the way you did in 2017, while customers are scanning QR codes in 2025, you're already behind.
Here’s What to Do Now
Start by tracking your sales and customer behavior better. Modernize your payment process. Get insights into what’s selling and why. Even simple automation can change everything.
Want to see how? Visit www.fedacash.com to start using Fedacash, the invoice discounting tool built for Nigerian businesses that want to grow with confidence, not guesswork.